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?

Yes. This Onban recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Onban take to make?

About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Onban — a Pyongyang, North Korea recipe

Name: Onban
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: North Korean
Ingredients: 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; 2 tbsp soy or tamari; to taste salt; to taste black pepper

Asia → 🇰🇵 North Korea → Pyongyang

Onban

North Korean · medium · serves 4

prep 25 min · cook 40 min

~1097 cal · 79g protein · 152g carbs · 16g fat (estimated, per serving)

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Rice in broth with shredded chicken and mung-bean pancake

🇰🇵 Pyongyang

Onban — "warm rice" — is a comforting Pyongyang specialty: a bowl of rice ladled with hot chicken broth and topped with shredded chicken, mushrooms, and pieces of bindaetteok, a crisp mung-bean pancake. Warming and gentle, it was historically a winter and morning dish of the northern Korean table.

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Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

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2 lb chicken (for broth and shredding)

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3 cups cooked rice

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1 cup split mung beans (for bindaetteok pancakes)

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1 cup mushrooms

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3 scallion

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3 cloves garlic

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2 tbsp soy or tamari

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to taste salt

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to taste black pepper

Instructions

1

Simmer the chicken (or mushrooms and kombu) with garlic into a clear broth; shred the meat.

2

Grind the soaked mung beans into a batter and fry thin bindaetteok pancakes until crisp.

3

Season the broth with tamari, salt, and pepper.

4

Put warm rice in bowls and ladle the hot broth over.

5

Top with shredded chicken, mushrooms, scallion, and pieces of the mung-bean pancake.

Pyongyang tradition.

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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

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Pyongyang. The home of cold naengmyeon buckwheat noodles.

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North Korea. Home of cold buckwheat noodles and hearty northern fare.

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Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

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Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →