636 recipes. Page 12 of 27
Everyday Korean side dish recipes
Scallions go into the hot pan before the batter, so one side of each stalk touches the metal and browns into a sweet, toasty fragrance that mixing them in would not give. The batter is poured thin, just enough to fill the gaps, which keeps scallion rather than dough in every bite.
Each piece of eggplant gets a deep cross cut that stops just short of the base, which opens it up like a pocket for a beef and tofu filling before it is steamed. Stuffing every piece by hand takes time, and the dish was traditionally kept for guests and feasts.
As dongchimi ferments, the clear brine around chunks of radish turns cool, tangy and faintly fizzy, with a soft fruitiness from pear and a clean finish from ginger. The radish is cut large, 4 to 5 cm, because small pieces go soft once the kimchi ripens, and a firm, medium-sized radish holds up better than a small one. Keeping every piece under the brine stops stray microbes, and the jar moves to the fridge once small bubbles appear. In winter the chilled broth becomes a base for cold noodles or is ladled alongside rich, fatty meat. Strained, the ripe broth tastes cleaner, and it keeps refrigerated for 2 to 3 weeks.
Tofu gangjeong began in temple cooking as a meatless stand-in for meat gangjeong, and these days it also shows up as a drinking snack. The potato-starch crust on the pan-fried cubes lasts about 10 minutes once the gochujang, ketchup, and oligosaccharide glaze goes on; after that it soaks up moisture and the crunch is gone. It gets glazed only when it is ready for the table.
Ground perilla seeds are whisked into water ahead of time, and that perilla water goes in once the Korean zucchini (aehobak) and oyster mushrooms start releasing their juices. Stirred for a few minutes, it thickens until it stops running and simply coats the vegetables. Soup soy sauce does the seasoning.
Doenjang, Korean fermented soybean paste, gets mixed with a little gochujang, garlic and honey and spread over rockfish fillets in a coat thin enough to see the flesh through. Any thicker and the paste and honey burn before the fish is done. Laying the fillet skin side down and leaving it alone keeps it from curling.
Enoki pulled apart strand by strand and only filmed with batter fry into a loose, lacy round, crisp as tempura at the rim and chewy in the middle. A dip of soy sauce with vinegar and a pinch of chili flakes comes with it.
The eggplant is sauteed in oil for a few minutes before the sauce goes in. Dropped straight into the liquid, it would release water and thin the seasoning. Any braising liquid left over can go into bibimbap.
Bellflower root (doraji) carries a pronounced bitterness, tamed by rubbing the roots hard with salt until sticky foam appears and then rinsing several times. The roots are torn by hand into thin strips; thinner strips take the brine faster, but crumbled pieces lose their chew. Ginger steeps in the hot soy brine for 10 minutes and is lifted out, leaving only its scent. The pickle is ready after 2 days of cold storage and is not meant to sit at room temperature.
Braised in the same pot, the tofu turns soft enough to break under a spoon while the shrimp curl up firm and springy. A little of the braising liquid is left in the pan on purpose, for spooning over rice.
Balloon flower root has a sharp, bitter edge, so the torn strands are rubbed hard with salt and rinsed twice before they meet the pan. The sauce is gochujang sweetened with oligosaccharide syrup and sharpened with chili flakes, cooked only until it clings to each strand in a thin, glossy layer. Brief cooking keeps a firm bite in the root.
Onion rings cut 2 cm thick are pinned through the side with toothpicks, and the layers stay together when turned. Doenjang (fermented soybean paste), gochujang, perilla oil and garlic are loosened with two tablespoons of water into a brushable sauce, which goes on thinly from the first flip onward.
Fresh green laver is mixed into a thin batter, and the sea smell rises from the pan while it fries. The Cheongyang chili goes in seeds and all, and the finish is sharply hot.
Giving the potatoes a 5-minute head start in plain water lines up their timing with the beltfish, and the starch they release thickens the sauce. Since beltfish breaks apart if handled often, the broth is ladled over rather than the pieces moved, and the reduced sauce is spooned onto rice with the fish.
Aralia shoots, the spring buds Koreans call durup, go into this pickle raw so the stems keep their snap and their woody, slightly bitter aroma. The brine leans on soy sauce rather than vinegar, since too much acid would bury that fragrance. Garlic and hot green chili leave a sharp finish, and a brief 20-second blanch is an option for anyone who finds the bitterness strong. Kept submerged and chilled, it lasts about 2 weeks and suits rice or a lettuce wrap with grilled meat.
How long aralia shoots need in the water depends on their thickness, so the base, not the leaf color, decides when they come out: it should be tender enough to chew. Pull them early to save the aroma and the bases stay hard. The vinegared gochujang sits on the side instead of being mixed in.
Once the seared tofu goes back into the pan, it is never stirred with a spatula; shaking the pan coats it in the red kimchi oil instead. The riper the kimchi, the more its sourness fades as it cooks, leaving a deeper savory taste.
The lotus root is cut 0.7 cm thick and browned in a pan first; the soy and rice-syrup glaze only goes on for the last minute or two. It is far crunchier than Korean braised lotus root, which simmers in soy for a long time. Once cool, the glaze that has run into the holes sets and stops being sticky.
Ground chicken and pressed tofu make a filling with little fat, and against that mild filling the perilla leaf's sharp aroma comes forward. Sliced straight out of the pan, the pieces lose their juices onto the plate. Serve them whole or cut them just before eating.
In Jeju, galchi-jorim is made with plenty of liquid, close to a stew, and rice gets mixed into whatever sauce is left. Potato goes under the fish along with the radish, another Jeju habit, and its starch gives the sauce some body.
Cold, soft eggplant soaked in a sweet-sour soy brine, with garlic and a little hot chili running through it, makes a chilled side dish rather than a long-keeping preserve. The eggplant is cut into thick lengthwise quarters because its tender flesh collapses easily, and thick pieces still hold their shape after blanching. Absorbing the brine takes a full day of chilling, too long for same-day cooking, and the jar stays refrigerated rather than on the shelf.
Eolgali, young napa cabbage cut before the head fills out, has leaves thin enough to need only about a minute in boiling water. It is dressed mildly, with doenjang, garlic, scallion, and sesame oil and no chili, a habit carried over from country tables that turned whatever grew in the garden between kimchi-making seasons into namul.
Pressed dry and broken up by hand into a mix of large curds and fine crumbs, the tofu is cooked over high heat with only occasional turning until the edges turn lightly golden and the crumbles are loose and fluffy. Seasoned simply with soy sauce and sesame oil, it works spooned over rice or packed in a lunch box, since there is no sauce to leak.
Fresh shiitake caps are stuffed with pork seasoned with soy sauce, scallion and garlic, mounded slightly, then coated in egg and fried. The easily skipped step is a very light dusting of flour inside each cap, which acts like glue between mushroom and meat.