If you've ever had an authentic Korean meal, you know that any entree you order will be accompanied by a variety of side dishes, or "banchan." Having a tiny bit of this, and a bit of that... you're guaranteed a well-rounded meal. I love the way that the dark green and light yellow of these two dishes look together, so often will plate them side by side.
"Spinach" and soybean sprout side dishes (banchan)
The "green" is typically made with spinach, but I had a messload of tatsoi (a type of mustard green) in the garden that needed to be cut and it worked out just fine. You could probably use swiss chard, collard greens, or just about anything in that family. I picked up organic soybean sprouts at the Korean market but you can also sprout your own.
First, wash your greens. You want them clean. :-)
Bring some salted water to a boil, and drop your greens in; spinach wilts very quickly, but tatsoi took just a minute or two longer... you want it all well-wilted but not completely disintegrated so keep a close eye. It shouldn't take long.
Then you drain the greens and squeeze out the water.
In the spirit of efficiency, I used the same salted boiling water to cook my "yellow" -- the soybean sprouts -- for about 5 minutes.You want them to no longer be crunchy but definitely not mushy.
I then drained the sprouts as well.
The same seasoning was used for both. Sorry this isn't very precise, but I totally took a pinch-of-this-and-dusting-of-that approach.
- Splash of soy sauce
- Just a few drops of sesame oil
- Dusting of red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Ooooh, looks really yummy! I like how you plated them side by side. I like to eat a little bit of this and a little bit of that - really does make for a well rounded meal.
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