Spicy beansprout salad

I've gone on a Korean food kick recently. It's been a little hazardous to the stomach lining, but oh it hurts so good. All the banchan, the side dishes, especially fascinate me. All these new-to-me and inventive ways to cook vegetables. I've tasted a couple of different versions of kong namool, a banchan made from bean sprouts, and wanted to give them a go at home. They came out pretty darned good for a first try--flavor excellent; texture, well, I need to blanch and shock them a little more quickly next time. Maybe just pour boiling water on them rather than plunge them into boiling water.

Anyway, here's what I did, and even though I haven't perfected it yet, I still think it's worth sharing. It's a light refreshing salad with lots of flavor interest, the slightly wilted beansprouts have great texture, and it's a great treatment of a cheap, nutritious, and low-calorie vegetable.

Ingredients:

• bean sprouts, mung or soy, a huge baleful of 'em, rinsed and drained -- they shrink in volume when cooked, however briefly
• vinegar, 2 Tbsp -- I used Japanese unseasoned rice vinegar
• dark sesame oil, 2 Tbsp
• soy sauce, 1 Tbsp -- I used Chinese light soy sauce
• sugar, 1 Tbsp -- I used plain white granulated for convenience
• garlic, two big fat cloves, slivered
• dried red chilies, two, crumbled--or quantity to your taste; I used chilies de arbol
• scallions, two, slivered

Method:

1. Bring a huge potful of water to a boil. Dump in all the beansprouts and blanch until they have just barely started to wilt, no more than one minute. Drain immediately and shock with cold water to halt cooking. Drain well and place in a non-reactive bowl.
2. Mix together all the other ingredients except the scallions. Pour this dressing over the bean sprouts and mix well. Let cool if needed, and then chill covered in the fridge overnight.
3. Traditionally, a small serving of this and several other banchan would be served alongside any Korean meal.

Comments

[Kathy]

Mmmm....that salad looks delicious! I love banchan of all sorts, so this one will get a try very soon :-)

[mizducky]

Cool! Let me know how it turns out!