Category: Vegetable Side Dishes (나물)

How to Plate Namul Side Dishes Let’s first begin at the seasoning stage. You season ingredients already when making stir-fried Namul. But when you make Saengchae (생채) or Sukchae (숙채), you need to add the seasoning by hand. When seasoning, tougher vegetables like balloon flower root (도라지). You can slightly massage the sauce into the…

There are certain ingredients that are used when seasoning Namul. I will go over which are used and why. Salt Flavor Flavored Oils Sesame oil and perilla seed oil add flavor and are important flavors that need to be used when making Namul. Dry Seasoning Ingredients Sweetening Ingredients Aromatic Ingredients These added aromatic ingredients are…

What Ingredients Need Special Preparation Some vegetables/ingredients need certain special preparation before being used. Remember, all of the vegetables should be cleaned. Let’s go over how to prepare these properly so that they are ready to use for your favorite recipes.

There are two main categories of vegetables that are made into Namul; leafy and root vegetables. Each need to be cleaned and stored based on the type for maximum freshness. Leafy Vegetables How to Clean Leafy Vegetables The best way to clean leafy vegetables is to soak them in water. Do not soak your leafy…

Stir-fried Namul (볶는나물) is when an ingredient is stir-fried and then seasoned. Some ingredients are slightly braised while stir-fried. This helps to break down tougher ingredients further. When stir-frying, you can make a flavored oil by adding aromatic ingredients to the oil and then stir-frying on medium to medium-high heat. Stir-frying dried and rehydrated vegetables…

Sukchae (숙채) refers to ingredients that are blanched in salted water and then seasoned with a sauce. Blanching vegetables in salted water helps to minimize nutrition loss, improve texture, increase and bring out the natural flavor of the vegetables, helps to reduce flavor loss, and enhance the color and vibrance of the ingredients. Vegetables should…