Vegetable dishes

Yesterday, I showed how to boil spinach, asparagus and bean sprouts so now I’m going to introduce some recipes using these veggies!

First 2 items are Korean style namul. Super easy! Just combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

Korean spinach namul

Boiled spinach 1 bunch

Soy sauce 2/3 tbs

Sesame oil 1/2 tbs

Toasted sesame seed 1/2 tbs

Garlic (grated) 1/2 tsp

Korean bean sprouts namul

Boiled bean sprouts 1 package

Sesame oil 1/2 Tablespoon

Sesame seed 1/2 Tablespoon

Salt 1/3 teaspoon

Soy sauce 1/2 Tablespoon

For a real Korean bean sprout namul, they use soy bean sprouts and cook longer but since they only sold regular bean sprouts (mung bean sprouts) at the grocery store, I substituted these.

Japanese style sesame sauce

You can use this sauce for multiple purposes, as a dipping sauce, as a dressing… Here is the recipe!

Sesame seed 1 Tablespoon

Sesame paste 2 Tablespoons

Sugar 1/2 Tablespoon

Light colored soy sauce 2 teaspoons
(You can substitute to regular soy sauce)

Japanese dashi stock 1 Tablespoon (if needed)
(You can substitute to water)

1. Place sesame in a small pot. Turn the heat to low-medium, toast sesame seeds slowly, around 5 minutes. Turn off the heat when you get a nice sesame aroma. (Don’t burn the sesame!)

2. Grind sesame in a mortar. (You can use already pre-grounded sesame seeds as well)

3. Add all the rest of the seasonings, sesame paste, sugar and light colored soy sauce and mix.

4. If the sauce is too thick, add a small amount of dashi stock or water.

5. You can mix this sauce with boiled spinach, pour over boiled asparagus or use as a vegetable stick dipping sauce.

Tomorrow’s blog will be about how to cook Japanese style spare ribs and seasoned soft boiled eggs!