June 16, 2010

Three meals, same ingredients (mostly): Ssam


I must give credit for this series of posts to my sole commenter for pointing out, somewhat astutely, that Korean food was boring (blasphemy!). I think what he meant was that Korean cuisine was more or less a variation of the same flavors and ingredients.


I can see the reasoning behind that... and luckily for me, this is actually a good thing, because I can make a few, fairly distinct meals out of the same set of ingredients.


The cast of characters:
  • some kind of greenery, in this case, watercress dressed in a soy dressing (soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, scallions, sesame oil, sesame seeds) which, by the way, makes a great salad on its own
  • thinly sliced cucumbers
  • any additional Korean banchan like myeolchi, fish roe, kimchi, etc. (here, spicy pickled radish)
  • a starch (rice or noodles)
  • lettuce leaves like romaine, red or green leaf
  • gochujang (which I mix with sesame oil, sugar, water and/or rice vinegar)
Watch like magic as I use these ingredients for three different meals!


Meal #1: Ssam


Probably the simplest meal, especially for a warm summer day, as it doesn't involve cooking anything other than the rice, unless you want to add something like a meat.


My secret ingredient: avocado. It is a great complement to the spicy gochujang and a nice contrast to the crunchy watercress, cucumber and romaine.

Meal #2 to come...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that looks delicious but there's supposed to be a piece of bulgogi on top. and why am i the only one that posts?

NL

nosebear said...

Probably because you have the most to say, especially when I don't use meat. Or you might be the only one reading!

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