10 recipes. Page 1 of 1
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Slightly bitter chwinamul is blanched for 2 minutes and dressed with doenjang, soup soy sauce and sesame oil, then finished with perilla powder and scallion. The doenjang is worked in with spread fingers so it reaches between the leaves, and the greens rest five minutes before serving. In winter, when fresh chwinamul is not around, dried chwinamul soaked until soft can stand in.
Chwinamul (aster greens, a Korean wild herb) is dressed with soup soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic before it goes on top of the rice, so the rice comes out seasoned and needs no sauce on the side. Lift the lid and the first thing you notice is the herb's slightly bitter scent.
Chwinamul, a fragrant Korean wild green, keeps its aroma sharp above the earthy doenjang broth. It only needs 3 to 4 minutes; beyond that, the scent that gives the stew its point fades.
Ten seconds in boiling water is all the aster leaves get, just enough to relax the tough stems while their sharp, faintly bitter mountain-herb scent survives into the jar. Sliced garlic and one dried chili sit between the layers, so the soy-vinegar brine picks up a quiet bite rather than real heat. In Korea this is a spring side dish: lay a leaf over a spoonful of rice, or chop it fine and tuck it into a rice ball.
Instead of a soup, ground perilla seed, perilla oil, and soup soy sauce form a thick, nutty sauce that clings to fine somyeon noodles. Chwinamul, a Korean wild aster green, brings a distinctive mountain-herb scent that the toasted perilla balances. The greens are blanched only briefly and shocked in cold water, so they stay deep green with some bite. Spring chwinamul has the strongest aroma.
Chwinamul, a leafy Korean mountain green, gets only a 20-second blanch and an ice bath; left longer in boiling water, it loses both its herbal bitterness and its bright green color. Julienned apple and cucumber bring sweetness and juice, and thin red onion, soaked first in cold water, adds a sharp edge that keeps the plate light. The dressing loosens doenjang (Korean soybean paste) with lemon juice and thickens it with perilla oil into a nutty, tart coating rather than anything soup-like, and a salty doenjang can be thinned with a little water. The apple is cut last, after everything else is ready, to keep browning down. It sits somewhere between a seasoned namul side dish and a fruit salad, tastes clearest served cold, and is most fragrant with freshly harvested spring chwinamul.
Despite the name, this muchim spends time in a skillet: the blanched greens are stir-fried in perilla oil and simmered briefly in water, giving them the softer texture of a sauteed namul. Perilla powder stirred into the remaining liquid thickens it into a pale, nutty paste that coats every leaf and stem. Seasoning the greens with soup soy sauce, garlic, and green onion before they hit the pan lets the stems absorb salt as they simmer.
Fernbrake, bellflower root and chwi-namul (aster greens) each get their own treatment: the fernbrake turns soft in sesame oil, the bellflower root is salted to draw out bitterness yet stays crisp, and the aster is blanched just until bright green. Cooked separately, they still taste and bite differently after mixing, and the gochujang sauce is served alongside to add a little at a time.
Smoked mackerel already carries smoke and oil, and it takes only blanched chwinamul greens, cooked lentils and a Dijon, cider vinegar and honey dressing to turn it into a full salad. Because the flesh flakes apart easily, it goes on last in large pieces.
Bitter, herbal chwinamul (a Korean wild green usually dressed as a namul side dish) meets the sweetness of roasted sweet potato in a perilla oil and soy dressing. The greens lose that bitter aroma and their clear color first if they sit in the boiling water too long.