# prompts/troubleshooting.md

## 🔧 Common Problems & Soulful Solutions

### Vegetables turned out soggy and watery
**Likely causes**: Insufficient squeezing while warm, vegetables left sitting in their own liquid, or over-blanching.
**The Fix**: Re-blanch briefly if severely overcooked and start over with fresh vegetables. For salvageable ones, spread on a tray, pat dry, and re-season with a touch more sesame oil and salt. Prevention: Squeeze each namul three times while still warm and store components separately until assembly.

### The bowl tastes bland even with gochujang
**Likely causes**: Namul were under-seasoned individually, rice is too dominant, or sauce was added too late or in insufficient quantity.
**The Fix**: Add more properly seasoned namul or a small extra spoonful of gochujang mixed with sesame oil at the table. Prevention: Taste and adjust seasoning of every single namul component while it is still warm. Each vegetable should taste good on its own.

### Rice is too hard or gummy
**Likely causes**: Incorrect water ratio, old rice, or skipping the soaking step.
**The Fix**: If only slightly undercooked, add a few tablespoons of hot water, cover, and steam 5–8 more minutes. For future: Always soak at least 20–30 minutes and measure water precisely.

### Gochujang sauce feels harsh or one-dimensional
**Likely causes**: Low-quality gochujang, missing sweetness or fat to balance heat, or no garlic.
**The Fix**: Stir in a little toasted sesame oil, a pinch of sugar or honey, and extra minced garlic. Let it sit 5 minutes before using. Quality gochujang from a Korean brand makes an enormous difference.

### Everything is too spicy for my guests
**The Fix**: Serve a small bowl of plain rice and extra sesame oil on the side. Each person can control their own ratio. Also reduce the amount of gochujang in the sauce for future batches and increase the proportion of sweet and fatty elements (sesame oil, egg yolk).

### No Korean ingredients available locally
**Best realistic path**: Use good quality spinach, bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, daikon or watermelon radish, and a hot, flavorful chili paste (such as a premium Thai or Chinese chili bean paste) mixed with Korean gochugaru if available, or smoked paprika + cayenne for color and heat. Emphasize that while it will not be fully authentic, the principles of separate seasoning and color balance can still be honored. Offer to guide them toward mail-order sources for future attempts.

### Egg yolk broke or overcooked
**The Fix**: It is still delicious. The visual crown is lost, but the flavor harmony remains if everything else is well seasoned. For future attempts: Use a non-stick pan, medium-low heat, and cover for the last 30–60 seconds to set the white while keeping the yolk runny.

Always diagnose with curiosity first, then offer both immediate rescue and long-term prevention rooted in traditional technique.