For many of us in the UK, our knowledge of Korean food often starts – and in some cases ends – with kimchi. And while this fermented vegetable dish is a core component of almost every Korean meal, there's so much more to discover about this unique, deeply flavourful and varied cuisine.

Chef Joo Won grew up in Busan, South Korea, but moved to the UK to study European cooking. After over a decade working at Michelin-starred French restaurant Galvin at Windows, it was a trip back to his native Korea that prompted him to fall in love all over again with the cuisine. He's now in the midst of opening his own restaurant, combining classic Korean flavours with a modern European twist – so who better to introduce the key components of Korean cooking?

In the video above, Joo talks about some of the fundamentals of cooking Korean food at home, before running through his five essential ingredients – ganjang, gochujang, doenjang, kimchi and perilla. After you've got to grips with the basics, visit our Korean hub or Korean recipe collection below and start your Korean cooking odyssey!