Pa-gui

Whole green onions charred over the barbecue grill until the outer layers blacken and the interior turns sweet and caramelised.

Pa-gui is one of the most quietly transformative side items at the Korean barbecue table — green onions that are raw and pungently sharp going onto the grill emerge ten minutes later as sweet, charred, almost dessert-like tubes of caramelised vegetable that bear little resemblance to their pre-cooked selves. The technique involves placing whole, large spring onions (or small leeks) directly onto the grill, allowing the outer green layers to blacken completely before removing and peeling them back to reveal the ivory-coloured, steamed interior. Korean barbecue culture teaches that the black layer is to be discarded but the steamed interior beneath, sweet from the caramelisation of natural sugars, is a worthy accompaniment to any grilled meat. The same technique applied to garlic creates gui-manul (grilled garlic), another beloved barbecue side item. In Korean traditional medicine (hanbang), green onion is credited with warming the body, aiding digestion, and clearing nasal passages, and is prescribed as part of cold remedies, making grilled green onion a food with both culinary and medicinal standing in Korean culture. The charred outer leaves, when ground, are sometimes used by home cooks as a natural food colouring or seasoning powder for jeon batter.