7 recipes. Page 1 of 1
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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.
Dureup, the spring shoots of the Korean angelica tree, are around only briefly each spring. They get no more than 30 seconds in salted boiling water before going on top of the rice to cook under the lid; any longer and the bitter, woody scent fades and the green turns dull. The rice cooks in kelp stock.
In spring, when dureup is in season, the blanched aralia shoots are rolled up in thin pork belly, threaded onto skewers, brushed with gochujang paste and grilled. The shoots get only 20 seconds in boiling water to keep their crunch and bitter, green aroma.
Aralia shoots are around only briefly in spring, and this jeon gives them just a thin coat of flour and egg to keep their bitter, herbal fragrance in front. Before frying they are blanched for 30 seconds in boiling water with a little vinegar to take off the harsh edge.
The tough, bark-like base of each dureup (aralia shoot) is trimmed off, and thick stems are split lengthwise or scored with a cross at the bottom. That way three or four minutes in the pot cooks them through while they stay crisp. Gochujang goes in at a third of the amount of doenjang, just enough for a low heat.
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.
Bittersweet spring aralia shoots sit on top of a doenjang broth thickened by potato and zucchini. The dish belongs to early spring, the short window when the shoots are in season. Pressing the doenjang through a sieve with a ladle keeps lumps out and the broth clean. As the potato simmers it partly breaks down, giving the soup body and a mild sweetness that sits well with the fermented soybean paste, and chewy knife-cut noodles stand up to that density. The shoots are blanched on their own and added near the end, because long simmering dulls the very fragrance the dish is built around.