Kongnamul

Soybean sprouts cooked under a lid that goes on before the heat and does not come off, then dressed cold.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 500 g soybean sprouts
• 120 ml water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon gochugaru, optional

Method

1. THE LID GOES ON BEFORE THE HEAT AND DOES NOT COME OFF. Sprouts, a little water and salt into a cold pan, lid on, and it stays on for the whole eight minutes. This is the same rule as the haejang-guk on this site approached from the other side: that page leaves the lid OFF throughout, and this one keeps it ON throughout, and both are correct. What is not correct is a lid that goes on or comes off partway, which is when soybean sprouts develop the strong sulphurous smell people blame on the sprouts themselves.
2. SO THE TEMPTATION TO LOOK IS THE WHOLE DIFFICULTY. There is nothing to see and nothing to adjust. Eight minutes from the heat going on, and the first time the lid is lifted is to drain them.
3. ONLY A LITTLE WATER GOES IN. A hundred and twenty millilitres for half a kilo -- they are mostly water themselves and will steam in their own liquid. Covered with water they boil, go limp, and lose the snap that is the point.
4. THEY ARE DRAINED AND COOLED BEFORE DRESSING, and spread out rather than left in a heap. Dressed hot, the sesame oil goes greasy and the garlic cooks; cooled, both stay fresh and sharp.
5. AND THE HUSKS ARE PICKED OFF FIRST. The loose yellow-green shells float off in the rinsing water and should go down the sink; left in they are papery in the mouth.
6. Sprouts rinsed in a bowl of cold water, the loose husks skimmed off and poured away. Repeated twice.
7. Any very long or browned root tips snapped off.
8. The sprouts put in a pan with the water and salt. THE LID PUT ON while the pan is still cold.
9. The heat turned to medium-high and cooked 8 MINUTES WITHOUT LIFTING THE LID.
10. The lid taken off and the sprouts drained at once in a colander.
11. Spread on a tray or plate and COOLED to room temperature, 15 minutes.
12. Dressed with the garlic, sesame oil, sesame seeds, spring onions and the gochugaru if using, folded through with the hands rather than a spoon.
13. Tasted and salted. They should still snap when bitten.
14. Served cool as a side dish, or kept 3 days in the fridge. They are also the beansprouts the bibimbap page on this site calls for.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes