Sangchu-geotjeori: Lettuce Kimchi

Hi, here’s the first of our recipes

We don’t want to focus too much on giving away recipes, but they’re a good point of departure.

Let’s do something unusual with lettuce: a lovely fresh, unfermented Korean Kimchi.

Kimchi is amazing. Koreans have been fermenting practically every kind of vegetable in the form of Kimchi for centuries (probably longer) as a way to preserve vegetables during the long, cold winter, and also for it’s pro-biotic properties. Kimchi is also a way of increasing the “deliciousness” (umami) of vegetables by a factor of a thousand – at least!

We’ll go into Kimchi properly later – the pro-biotic fermented type.

Lettuce likes to be eaten fresh.

Fresh Lettuce Kimchi (Sangchu-geotjeori)

Manuel

A fresh, unfermented Korean Kimchi to eat right away

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Prep Time 10 mins

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Korean

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 Romaine or other very crisp lettuce

Dressing

• 1-2 cloves garlic crushed or chopped
• 2-3 tsp soy sauce preferrably light
• 1 inch piece of ginger (optional)
• 1 tsp sesame oil The Korean variety is awsome
• 1 tsp sesame seeds especially good dry roasted on a skillet
• 1 tsp sweetener: sugar, honey, agave syrup, stevia
• 1-3 tbsp Red chilli flakes Korean, Kashmiri, Mexican Guajillo are all good options
• 1 dash vinegar to taste

Instructions

 

• Wash the lettuce and cut or tear into a large bowl
• crush the garlic and ginger in a mortar and pestle, OR chop the garlic and slice the ginger into matchsticks

  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well
  
• Toss the lettuce in the dressing using your (gloved) hands

Notes

Alternatives

This can be done with any green leafy vegetable such as

• spinach,
• rocket (arugula),

and some of the tender chicories such as

• Belgian endive and
• escarole

Traditionally Eaten With

Your favourite soup, rice and a vegetable side dish