Chwinamul Apple Doenjang Salad
Quick answer
- Total time
- 20 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 2 servings
- Ingredients
- 8
About this dish
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.
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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.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Trim tough stem ends and any yellow leaves from 120 g chwinamul.
Swish the greens in cold water until no grit remains, then drain in a sieve so excess water does not dilute the dressing.
- 2
Bring a pot of water to a strong boil and blanch the chwinamul for only 20 seconds.
As soon as the color turns vivid green, move it to ice water to stop cooking.
- 3
When the greens are cold, squeeze them firmly by hand without crushing the leaves.
Loosen the bundle and cut or separate it into bite-size lengths so the dressing can coat evenly.
- 4
Julienne 120 g apple and 80 g cucumber into 0.3 cm strips for matching crunch.
Slice 30 g red onion very thin, soak it in cold water for 5 minutes, then drain well.
- 5
Put 1 tbsp doenjang in a bowl and loosen it first with 1.5 tbsp lemon juice, added little by little.
Stir in 1 tbsp perilla oil until the dressing looks smooth and lightly thickened.
- 6
Combine the chwinamul, apple, cucumber, and drained onion in a large bowl, then toss gently with the dressing so the greens do not clump. Rest 2 minutes, scatter 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, and serve cool.
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