Weekend Fun and Spinach Namul (Banchan: Korean Side Dish)

We had a nice weekend without anything on the agenda. Since it was a beautiful weekend, we took advantage of the weather and spent quite a bit of time outside.


We also made more banchan over the weekend. I enlisted the help of hubby and the kid to take the ends off the bean sprouts – let’s just say hubby ended up doing most of the work, and it is VERY time-consuming…

On to the next dish in my banchan series. It’s another simple dish that keeps well in the fridge for several days: spinach namul. The spinach is quickly blanched, mixed with seasonings, and then quickly sautéed.


Spinach Namul
Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds spinach
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 4 tsp sesame seeds
• olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Bring some water to a boil and add the salt.
2. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Drain the spinach and rinse under cold water. Squeeze out the water
4. Mix the soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil and vinegar and coat the spinach with the mixture.
5. Heat a frying pan and spray it with olive oil.
6. Sauté the spinach for about 30 seconds.
7. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Questions: Do you like spinach? Yes, and I almost always have some around. If so, what’s your favorite way to eat it? That’s hard to say because I enjoy spinach in so many dishes. I love it as a salad with a warm dressing and topped with a poached egg. I also enjoy it in my kefir/blueberry/spinach smoothies. Plus, mushrooms and spinach scrambles are one of my go-to breakfasts. And there are so many more ways I enjoy it…

Be well,
Andrea