Sundae

Blood sausage filled only two thirds because the rice and noodles swell, steamed slowly and sliced cold.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork, sausage casings, which are gut unless it says otherwise.

Ingredients

• 1 litre pig's blood
• 2 m hog casings, soaked and rinsed
• 200 g glutinous rice, soaked 2 hours
• 150 g glass noodles, soaked and chopped
• 300 g napa cabbage, blanched, squeezed and chopped
• 200 g beansprouts, blanched and chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 spring onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 piece ginger, 3 cm, grated
• 3 tablespoons doenjang
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper

Method

1. THE CASINGS ARE FILLED ONLY TWO THIRDS BECAUSE THE RICE SWELLS. Glutinous rice and glass noodles both take up a great deal of liquid as they steam, and they are taking it from the blood around them. A casing filled full bursts along its length in the first ten minutes and the whole batch empties into the steamer. Two thirds feels slack and looks wrong, and it is right.
2. PIG'S BLOOD IS THE HARD PART TO BUY and the page says so rather than pretending otherwise. A butcher will order it; it does not keep, so it is a same-day ingredient. There is no substitute that makes this dish -- without blood it is a rice sausage, which exists and is not this.
3. THE BLOOD IS STRAINED AND STIRRED CONSTANTLY. It separates and starts to set as it stands, so it goes through a sieve to catch the clots and is stirred every time the bowl is left for a minute.
4. IT IS STEAMED, NOT BOILED, AND SLOWLY. Boiling water knocks the sausages about and splits them; a gentle steam for fifty minutes sets the blood without violence. The water underneath should be at a bare simmer.
5. THEY ARE PRICKED AS THEY FIRM UP, after about ten minutes, with a fine skewer, which lets the air out before it can expand and tear them.
6. AND THEY ARE COOLED BEFORE SLICING, like the pyeonyuk on this site. Hot sundae crumbles; cold, it slices cleanly and is then steamed again or fried to serve.
7. A SMALL PATTY OF THE FILLING IS COOKED AND TASTED before any casing is filled -- there is a lot of salt in this and it cannot be adjusted later.
8. Casings soaked in warm water 1 hour, rinsed through thoroughly inside and out.
9. Rice soaked 2 hours and drained. Noodles soaked and chopped short. Cabbage and beansprouts blanched, SQUEEZED DRY and chopped.
10. The blood strained through a sieve into a large bowl.
11. Everything else folded into it with the salt, pepper, doenjang and sesame oil, and stirred until completely even.
12. A SPOONFUL COOKED IN A PAN AND TASTED. Adjusted for salt.
13. A casing slipped onto a wide funnel and filled TWO THIRDS FULL, tied off in 20 cm lengths with string.
14. Laid in a steamer basket, not touching, over barely simmering water.
15. Steamed 10 minutes, then PRICKED all over with a fine skewer.
16. Steamed a further 40 MINUTES, until firm and a skewer comes out clean. COOLED completely, then sliced 1 cm thick and re-steamed or fried with salt and pepper to serve.

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