← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 450 g thin spring onions, trimmed and washed
• 4 tbsp Korean anchovy fish sauce (myeolchi aekjeot)
• ½ tbsp Glutinous rice flour
• 120 ml Water
• 5 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Ginger, grated
• ¼ sweet apple or Asian pear, grated (optional)

Method

1. Lay the spring onions in a tray with the white ends together. Drizzle 2 tbsp of the fish sauce over the white parts and leave for 15 min, turning once, until they soften slightly.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the rice flour into the water in a small pan and cook over low heat for 2–3 min, stirring, until it thickens into a thin paste. Let it cool.
3. Mix the cooled paste with the gochugaru, the remaining fish sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger and apple into a thick red paste.
4. Pour off any fish sauce that has collected in the tray and add it to the paste. Spread the paste over the spring onions, coating them from root to tip with your hands (wear gloves).
5. Fold every few spring onions into a little bundle and pack them into a jar. Leave at room temperature for 1 day to start fermenting, then refrigerate.

Tips

• Delicious fresh with grilled pork, and even better after a week in the fridge, when it turns tangy.
• Check the fish sauce label if you need it gluten-free; most Korean anchovy sauces are just anchovy and salt.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Korean Bapsang Beyond Kimchee Aaron and Claire