Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Onban
A Pyongyang bowl of warm rice in chicken broth topped with shredded chicken and a mung-bean pancake.
North Korean · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~784 cal · 74g protein · 75g carbs · 18g fat · 9g fiber · 2g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Onban, whose name means "warm rice", is a comforting specialty of Pyongyang and the northern Korean table, and a dish with deep roots in the region's cold-weather cooking. A bowl of warm rice is ladled with hot chicken broth and topped generously, so it sits somewhere between a rice dish and a soup.
The toppings are what make it: shredded poached chicken, sauteed mushrooms, strips of egg, and, distinctively, pieces of bindaetteok, the crisp fried mung-bean pancake, laid over the top. The hot broth soaks gently into the rice while the pancake keeps some of its texture.
Warming, gentle, and nourishing, it was historically a winter and morning dish, exactly the sort of restorative bowl a freezing northern climate calls for. Onban is a quiet, warming bowl built on rice, broth, and careful toppings.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 lb chicken (for broth and shredding)
3 cups cooked rice
1 cup split mung beans (for bindaetteok pancakes)
1 cup mushrooms
3 scallion
3 cloves garlic
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
a pinch shredded red chili
1 egg, fried thin and shredded
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken (or mushrooms and kombu) with garlic into a clear broth, then shred the meat.
2
Grind the soaked mung beans into a batter and fry thin bindaetteok pancakes until crisp.
✎ Chef’s note
Fry the mung-bean pancakes thin and crisp, and cut them just before serving, so they keep some bite when they meet the hot broth.
3
Season the broth with salt and pepper only.
✎ Chef’s note
Onban is seasoned with salt rather than soy sauce or spice. The Pyongyang sources are explicit about it, and the point is that the clean chicken broth and the fried mung-bean pancake carry the flavour.
4
Put warm rice in bowls and ladle the hot broth over.
5
Top with the shredded chicken, sauteed mushrooms, scallion, and pieces of the mung-bean pancake, then finish with the shredded egg, shredded chili, and sesame seeds.
Pyongyang tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pyongyang. Pyongyang is the home of naengmyeon, chewy buckwheat noodles served in an icy broth with pear and mustard. Northern Korean cooking is milder and less chili-driven than the south, with dumplings, cold dishes, and pine nuts.
🗺️
North Korea. The north is colder and higher than the south and grows differently: maize and potato do more of the work than rice, and the potato-heavy cooking of Ryanggang province is genuinely distinct. Food scarcity has been a serious and well-documented part of the country's recent history, which is the necessary context for any account of what is eaten there.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from North Korea
Pyongyang NaengmyeonChewy buckwheat noodles in an icy, clear beef-and-radish broth, topped with pear, egg, and pickles.
Injo-gogi-bapSheets of soybean 'meat' stuffed with rice and topped with a spicy sauce, a resourceful North Korean street food.
Gangnaengi-tteokChewy steamed corn cakes lightly sweetened and often dotted with beans, a homely North Korean treat.
Browse all North Korea recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a North Korea meal
SujeonggwaDrink
Gangnaengi-tteokDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Phở Gà (Hanoi Chicken Pho)Vietnam
Khao Piak SenLaos
Ohn No Khauk Swe (Coconut Chicken Noodles)Myanmar
Canja de GalinhaCape Verde
MolokhiaEgypt
Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup)Ghana
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free North Korean Recipes
Gluten-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Dairy-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Nut-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Onban?
A Pyongyang bowl of warm rice in chicken broth topped with shredded chicken and a mung-bean pancake.
Where does Onban come from?
Onban is a North Korean dish from Pyongyang, North Korea.
Can Onban be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Onban recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Onban safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Onban take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.