10 recipes. Page 1 of 1
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Steamed cabbage leaves wrap around pan-cooked chicken tenderloin, and slicing the rolls 2-3 cm thick shows a white center inside green layers. Both the chicken and the cabbage are mild, so the ssamjang served alongside, a thick Korean dipping paste, carries most of the flavor. Pressing the thick cabbage ribs flat before steaming lets the leaves roll without splitting.
Small balls of sesame-oil rice and a dab of garlicky ssamjang, a Korean dipping paste of soybean and chili, are wrapped in Swiss chard leaves blanched for just 30 seconds. The one bit of prep that matters is shaving down the thick rib on the back of each leaf with a flat knife; left whole, it stays stiff and pokes through when you fold.
Only coarse salt and black pepper season the duck itself; the flavor partners come at the table, where slices are wrapped in perilla leaves with ssamjang, a fermented soybean and chili paste. Cooked from a cold pan in its own fat, the skin turns hard and crackly.
Ssamjang, the thick soybean and chili paste served with Korean lettuce wraps, forms the base of this sauce instead of plain gochujang. Resting the sauce for about ten minutes before tossing softens the heavy note of the ssamjang. Squid rings blanched for just forty seconds stay springy against the medium wheat noodles, and gochugaru, vinegar, and syrup add heat, tang, and sweetness. The cooked noodles are rubbed under cold water to strip their surface starch so they do not stick together. Julienned perilla leaves and paper-thin onion on top bring an herbal scent and a sharp crunch.
Ssamjang, the thick soybean-and-chili paste served with Korean lettuce wraps, gets whisked into milk instead of fried, which keeps its savory fermented flavor while softening its pasty edge. Browned chicken thigh, onion, and garlic give the sauce some sweetness underneath. Each ear-shaped orecchiette cups a little sauce, and spinach goes in only during the final minute or two so it stays green. Parmesan melts in once the burner is off.
Thinned with lemon juice, ssamjang (the soybean and chili dipping paste used for Korean lettuce wraps) becomes a savory dressing sturdy enough for raw kale. The kale's slight bitterness suits that nutty, salty depth, and red cabbage and cucumber add juicy crunch. Golden pan-seared tofu edges and sliced almonds supply the crunch in the name; scatter the almonds at the last minute so they stay crisp.
Hairtail is sliced thin, about 0.3 cm, and eaten wrapped in lettuce with raw garlic, green chili, and ssamjang or chojang. The silvery coating on the skin does not need to be scraped off.
Instead of the usual cho-gochujang, this raw fish bowl is dressed with ssamjang loosened with vinegar and sesame oil, and the taste leans toward savory fermented soybean rather than sweet heat. The vegetables are not dressed ahead, and the bowl gets only two or three turns when it is mixed.
Pork belly goes into a dry pan and cooks in its own fat, turned just once after the first side browns. Thin slices of garlic then fry in the rendered fat, and the meat, cut into bites with scissors, is wrapped in lettuce with the garlic, ssamjang (a soybean and chili paste), green onion and chili pepper.
Lettuce and perilla leaves each take a small spoonful of rice, a dab of ssamjang (a thick soybean and chili paste), thin slices of raw garlic and some chili, then get folded into a single bite. Wet leaves let the rice and paste slide right out; after washing, they stand in a sieve to drain and are patted dry.