Chwinamul-muchim (Seasoned Aster Greens)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for blanching
• •Large bowl for cold water
• •Colander
• •Mixing bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Sort the greens

   Pick through the chwinamul and remove yellow leaves, thick woody stems, and any gritty ends. Keep tender stems; they give the dish its chew. Rinse in two or three changes of cold water until no sand settles at the bottom of the bowl. Mountain greens carry dirt honestly, so don't rush this part.

2. 2

   Blanch briefly

   Bring 2 liters of water to a strong boil and add 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt. Add the greens stem ends first, then press the leaves under the water. Blanch 45 to 60 seconds for young spring chwinamul, or up to 90 seconds if the stems are thicker. The leaves should darken and soften, but the stems should still have life in them.

   Salt in the blanching water seasons the greens lightly from the inside and helps keep the color clear. It is not decoration.
3. 3

   Cool and squeeze

   Lift the greens into cold water and swish once to stop the cooking. Drain, gather them into a bundle, and squeeze firmly with both hands. You want damp greens, not wet greens. Too much water thins the seasoning and makes the doenjang taste muddy. After squeezing, you should have about 180g cooked greens.

4. 4

   Cut for eating

   Lay the squeezed bundle on a board and cut it into 5cm lengths. Loosen the clumps with your fingers before seasoning. This is a banchan eaten with rice, so every chopstickful should be easy to lift and chew.

5. 5

   Mix the seasoning

   In a mixing bowl, stir together the doenjang, optional gochujang, soup soy sauce, sesame oil, maesil-cheong, garlic, scallion, and crushed sesame seeds. Use only 1 teaspoon gochujang if you use it at all. Chwinamul has its own clean bitterness, and burying it under chili paste is wasteful.

6. 6

   Season by hand

   Add the cut greens to the bowl and mix by hand, rubbing the seasoning lightly through the leaves and stems until every piece is coated. If the doenjang is very stiff, add 1 teaspoon water or reserved blanching liquid, no more at first. Taste one stem. It should be savory, nutty, and faintly bitter, with the sesame oil shining at the end.

   Season each namul alone, in its own bowl, and taste it before it ever meets the rice. Spinach wants softness, bracken wants depth, and chwinamul wants restraint.
7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Let the seasoned greens sit 10 minutes at room temperature, then taste again. Doenjang opens as it sits. Add a few drops more sesame oil only if the greens taste flat, or a pinch more crushed sesame if they need roundness. Serve in a small banchan dish with rice, soup, and one clean kimchi.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh chwinamul is best in spring. Look for leaves that are green and springy, with stems that bend but don't collapse. If the market only has tired greens, cook another namul that day. Technique first, but the ingredient still has to be alive enough to answer.
• •For dried chwinamul, use 40g dried greens for this recipe. Soak in cool water 6 to 8 hours, simmer in fresh water 25 to 35 minutes until the stems are tender, then let them cool in the cooking water before squeezing and seasoning. Dried greens need patience because the fibers have to relax all the way through.
• •Doenjang varies wildly. Start with 1 tablespoon for 180g cooked greens. If your paste is very salty, reduce the soup soy sauce to 2 teaspoons. Write it down. Memory is a borrowed bowl.
• •The safe shortcut is using a salad spinner after squeezing to remove extra water. The unsafe shortcut is skipping the hand-mixing. Namul is seasoned by touch because clumped leaves hide bland places.

Advance Preparation

• •Fresh chwinamul can be washed and trimmed up to 1 day ahead. Wrap it in a barely damp towel, place it in a bag, and refrigerate.
• •The finished muchim keeps 2 days refrigerated, but it is best the day it is seasoned. Sesame oil dulls and the greens darken after that.
• •Dried chwinamul can be soaked and simmered 1 day ahead. Store the cooked, unsqueezed greens in a little of their cooking liquid in the refrigerator, then squeeze and season before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 70g)