무나물 / Mu namul (seasoned radish)
When I started paying more attention to my mom’s cooking, I noticed that she sometimes used a thick salt. She recommended that I use this particular Korean sea salt called 천일염 / Cheon il yeom when I need to make kimchi or seep out the moisture from vegetables.
It felt overwhelming to add another type of salt into my kitchen, so for a long time I resisted it. But after struggling with the salt levels of my kimchi, I decided to buy a package at the local Korean store. It’s now one of the staples of my kitchen.
Cheon il yeom is salt water that has been naturally dried by the sun and the wind in sea reservoirs, and aged 2-3 years. It is a salt that has retained more moisture due to its process, and is therefore flavorful without being too salty, and extremely effective yet gentle in pickling and fermenting vegetables.
If you have cheon il yeom on your hands, seasoning fresh radish is is a flavorful, nourishing banchan to make with it. The cheon il yeom transforms the texture of the radish while also providing lovely juices that you cook the radish in. It is addicting to eat with a bowl of steamed rice, or as something to add in your bibimbap.
It is something that my mom regularly made as a banchan available in the refrigerator during the week. I loved it so much, but didn’t really start to cook it myself until recent years, because I thought it would be too difficult to make. My mom convinced me that it is incredibly simple, but you need to take care when salting the vegetable (not to over-salt it). I’d also like to add that I think the size of the radish matters- julienne it well and thinly.
It is a style of preparing radish that I learned from my mom, who learned it from her mom, and I’m sharing it with you here, written down.
무나물 / Mu namul (seasoned radish)
Ingredients
-200-300g Korean radish, or something similar (washed, peeled, and thinly julienned)
-1 teaspoon cheon il yeom, or Korean thick sea salt
-2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
-1 teaspoon perilla oil
-1 teaspoon neutral oil
Toss the julienned radish with a scant sprinkling of Korean thick sea salt in a a bowl and rest for about 20 minutes. It should start to seep out its juices.
Heat a pan with both the neutral and perilla oil over medium heat. Add the radish, reserve the juices. Cook for a minute or so, and taste. Add a bit of the juice if it needs more salt, bit by bit. If it gets too watery, stop adding the juice and supply any further seasoning needed with an additional pinch or so of regular salt.
Once cooked and seasoned, add the sesame seeds. Toss for a few seconds further, then heat off.
Enjoy with freshly steamed rice.