Cold beer in summer is great. Cooking expert Megumi Fujii introduces two healthy dishes to accompany the occasion. Namul is a Korean dish of vegetables seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and other ingredients. “In addition to bean sprouts and carrots, eggplant, cucumber, seaweed and mulukhiya (“moroheiya”) can also be used to make good namul,” says Fujii, who chose okra and tomato this time. Green soybean and herbs seasoned with soy sauce is another refreshing dish. It can be served on rice, tofu or chopped nagaimo yam.
INGREDIENTS
For okra and tomato namul (Serves two):
10 okra
1 tomato
2 tsp sesame oil
1/3 tsp salt, bit of grated garlic, 2 tsp ground white sesame
For green soybean dish:
300 grams fresh green soybean (edamame)
2 cucumbers
3 myoga
20 grams ginger
10 shiso leaves
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet mirin sake
METHOD
To make namul, cut off stem of okra. Peel off calyx.
Bring water to a boil, add salt (not listed above) and cook okra until it softens. Spread on sieve to cool. Cut diagonally in twos or threes.
Cut tomato into bite-size pieces. Put okra, tomato, sesame oil in bowl and mix. Add salt, garlic and sesame in this order. Mix well each time a new ingredient is added.
To make green soybean dish, first pour mirin in pot, bring to a boil to remove alcohol content. Turn off heat, add soy sauce and cool.
Boil green soybean and remove beans from pod. Cut cucumber lengthwise in four, remove seeds and cut into 1-cm pieces. Chop myoga, ginger and shiso leaves. Place vegetables, mirin mixture in bowl and mix. Leave for more than 10 minutes so the flavor blends.
(To make eggplant namul, cut off stems, boil whole. When soft, remove from pot and cool. Split lengthwise and squeeze out water. Add sesame oil, salt, grated garlic in this order and mix well.)
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From the Asahi Shimbun's Kashikoi Okazu column
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