With the Korean drama-and-culture craze, Korean food — often featured in hallyu scenes — has taken the spotlight in the Islands as well.

When local non-Koreans think about Korean food, the top few items on the list are kal bi (meat barbecue), meat jun (battered cutlets), jap chae (noodles), taegu (codfish salad) and, of course, the staple kim chee (salt-preserved cabbage and other vegetables). We Koreans are pleased by the fact that Islanders can enjoy the pungent garlic and spicy flavors of kim chee. With all the vegetable side dishes, Korean food is considered quite healthful as well.

For the general public, these common Korean dishes are fine, but for those who are more adventurous, I want to introduce a Korean dish. Try this one and you will earn the respect of your Korean friends. It's called cheongukjang stew. Its nothing exotic but simply a stew made from fermented soybean paste with a smell so pungent it could get you kicked out of your condo.

Many local Korean restaurants will give you a complimentary order of stew if you order at least two meat dishes, such as kal bi. This can be either kim-chee stew or another common dish, a bean-paste stew called doenjang. It's very similar but can't even begin to compare with cheongukjang.

I remember in my youth, my mother cooking in the kitchen and once in a while a rancid odor would fill my room. I would scream to my mother, "What's rotting in the kitchen?" She would laugh and open all the windows — poor neighbors! It's a good thing we lived in a house; otherwise, the neighbors would have deported us.

Seriously, this stew smells really awful — but last month I finally got the guts to try it. It's funny how in my older years the foods I disliked or even refused to try have become foods I love. I hated broccoli and other vegetables along with any type of fish, but today it seems that's all I eat.

I was at a local Korean restaurant, Han Yang, in Kalihi, with some Korean friends and they ordered cheongukjang. When the stew came to the table, I thought about my childhood and how I went hysterical over the smell. Well, the pungent odor hasn't changed, but I was willing to try the dish. I figured it couldn't be that bad, especially because there is nothing really foreign in it (fermented soybean, tofu, mushrooms in a thick anchovy stock).

My friends went for the stew over the kal bi and asked me, "Jeff, you eat this, right?" If I hadn't said yes, I would not have been considered Korean — peer pressure at my age! I took a modest sample of the stew and had some rice with it. I immediately loved it! Sure, it smells bad, but the taste offsets the smell. I wonder if Malaysians and Vietnamese say the same thing about eating their beloved fruit, durian.

The dish tastes like natto —Japanese fermented soybeans — in a piping hot stew. Natto is the same as the primary ingredient in cheongukjang, though in a whole-bean form. I eat natto with hot rice often, and maybe that was how I became brave enough to try cheongukjang.

There aren't many Korean restaurants that will make this stew as it could offend other customers, but the new owner who works in the kitchen of Han Yang has got the right recipe for a great meal. His specialty is actually varied cuts of beef you can cook at your table, but I am now addicted to cheongukjang.

THIS WEEK'S K-DRAMA SYNOPSES

'BRIDE FROM VIETNAM'

Episodes 49 and 50

Tonight at 7: To Jin-ju's surprise, Sung-il joins Jun-wu and Jin-ju for dinner. Sung-il reminisces about the time when Jin-ju asked if he was her father and he adamantly denied it. Jun-wu becomes suspicious of Sung-il's claim and starts investigating on his own.

Tonight at 8: Jun-wu conducts his own investigation on Sung-il's past and whether Richard Kim, who was in Vietnam 20 years ago, is the same person as Sung-il. At work Jun-wu discovers that Sung-il has moved the proposed site for Well Being Foods from Vietnam to China and becomes more suspicious.

'KING AND I'

Episodes 29 and 30

Tomorrow at 7:50 p.m.: Chuh-sun and other eunuchs bring the bodies of dead eunuchs and ask them to open the gate to appease their wrongful deaths. But Han-su refuses to open the gate, saying he'll be admitting his wrong if he did. The king decides to ignore the goings-on at the eunuch's department.

Tuesday at 7:50 p.m.: Chuh-sun goes to Chi-gyeom with a letter which has the name of the killer of the late king. Chi-gyeom tells him to not be afraid to open the letter if the letter contains the truth. Chi-gyeom takes the letter to the king. Retired Eunuch Noh begs Han Myong-hwe to get rid of Chi-gyeom, and Seol-young plots to have Chuh-sun poisoned.

'LOBBYIST'

Episodes 23 and 24 (final episode)

Wednesday at 7:50 p.m.: Police storm into Maria and Harry's hideout. Harry escapes the scene while Maria stalls for time. Maria exposes Eva's mysterious car-bombing case in front of reporters, saying a high-ranking official was involved.

Thursday at 7:50 p.m.: Harry finds Madam Chae's secret ledger, and asks Kim Sung-ju for help. Harry asks the chief of navy for help with the nuclear submarine project, only to be turned down. Tae-hyuk confronts Assemblyman Jang about Eva's death and demands the truth.

'SCARY GIRL'

Episodes 13 and 14, 15 and 16

Friday at 7:50 p.m.: Eun-hae wonders why her father took Jung-jin to a meeting instead of Kyung-pyo. Chairman Baek is dumbfounded when his colleague wants to set him up with his sister. Young-rim's landlady offers to set her up with a rich but much older gentleman.

Saturday at 7:50 p.m.: Young-rim visits a plastic surgeon and begs him in tears to fix her scar. Joon-chul, a magazine reporter, overhears her story and asks the nurses about her. Young-rim gets a surprise visit from a lady who makes a shocking suggestion.