Korean Spinach Salad

시금치무침[shi-keum-chi-moo-chim]
Spinach is packed with vital nutrients like iron and beta-carotene and is an excellent source of fiber. But unfortunately, I find there are not that many dishes that feature this healthy vegetable as main ingredient. I guess in the Western diet, spinach salad and creamy spinach are as popular as it gets. Salad is always a good option, but I personally don't like creamy spinach because creamy flavor overpowers the real flavor of spinach.

If you are looking for an alternative spinach dish, I recommend Korean Spinach Salad. Though it's called salad, we use half-cooked or blanched spinach. First, you would need a whole bunch of spinach which has stems and a little bit of roots at the bottom instead of the typical spinach leaves sold for salad. Because the spinach is only half cooked, you get the full flavor of cooked spinach while still being fresh when biting it. When it's mixed with garlic soy sauce, you would be surprised to find a wonderful combination of these two super-foods - spinach and garlic - tastes when mixed together.

Ingredients:

spinach 300g (2 bunches)
salt (1 tsp)
Korean soy sauce (1 1/2 tbl)
garlic (3 cloves, minced)
green onion (1 tbl, chopped)
sesame oil (1/2 tbl)
ground sesame seeds (1/2 tbl)

1.

Boil water with some salt.

2.

Immerse the spinach in boiling water with leafy green part on top and blanch the spinach for no more than 30 seconds. Spinach should be only half-cooked.

3.

Rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Drain and squeeze out water. Then cut the spinach bunch into 3 parts.

4.

Make the seasoning sauce by mixing altogether the ingredients above.

5.

Mix the sauce into spinach.