Meowi-namul (Seasoned Butterbur)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 4-quart pot for blanching
• •Large bowl for cold soaking
• •Colander
• •10-inch skillet
• •Kitchen gloves, useful for peeling and hand-seasoning

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose and wash

   Use young spring butterbur sold for cooking, with stems that bend instead of snapping dry. If you gathered it yourself, have it identified by someone who knows Korean spring greens, and do not use roadside plants. Wash the stems and leaves in two changes of cold water, rubbing near the base where grit hides. Trim dry ends and separate large leaves from thick stems so they can cook at their own pace.

2. 2

   Blanch the butterbur

   Bring 8 cups water and 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt to a hard boil. Add thick stems first and boil 3 minutes, then add tender leaves and thinner tops for 45 seconds more. Thick stems may need 1 extra minute, but do not cook them until limp. The blanching makes the stems flexible, loosens the outer strings, and takes the sharpest edge off the bitterness without erasing it.

   Butterbur is not eaten raw for this dish. Blanching and soaking are part of the recipe, not decoration.
3. 3

   Cool, peel, soak

   Lift the butterbur into cold water and cool it fully. Starting from the cut end, pull away the stringy outer skin from the thick stems, the way you would strip celery strings. Soak the peeled stems and leaves in fresh cold water for 20 minutes, or up to 1 hour if they taste very bitter. Taste one small piece after 20 minutes. You want the bitterness tamed, not gone; if it tastes like nothing, you soaked out the reason we waited for spring.

4. 4

   Squeeze and cut

   Drain and squeeze the butterbur firmly in your hands until it is damp but not dripping. Cut it into 2-inch lengths. If the leaves are large, slice them once or twice across so they mix evenly with the stems. Too much water will thin the doenjang and make the perilla powder pasty, so squeeze with conviction.

5. 5

   Season by hand

   Put the cut butterbur in its own bowl. Add the doenjang, guk-ganjang, garlic, scallion, and 2 teaspoons of the perilla oil. Mix by hand until every stem is lightly coated. Season each namul alone in its own bowl and taste it before it meets the rice. Butterbur has a bitter spine, so it needs doenjang for depth, but not so much that the green disappears. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway.

6. 6

   Saute briefly

   Warm a 10-inch skillet over medium heat and add the remaining 1 teaspoon perilla oil. Add the seasoned butterbur and stir 2 minutes, just until the doenjang smells rounded and the stems look glossy. Add 2 tablespoons anchovy-kelp broth or water, cover, and cook 2 minutes more. This softens the fibers without turning the namul heavy.

7. 7

   Finish with perilla

   Lower the heat. Sprinkle in the perilla seed powder and toss for 30 seconds, adding the last tablespoon of broth or water only if the pan looks dry. The powder should cling in a light beige coating, not form a paste. Taste now. Add only a pinch of salt if it needs sharpening, then finish with sesame seeds if using. Serve warm or at room temperature with rice.

Chef Tips

• •Buy young stems if you can. Thick late-season stems can still be cooked, but they need longer blanching and more careful peeling, and the bitterness turns blunt instead of clean.
• •The safe shortcut is already blanched and peeled meowi from a Korean market. Soak it 10 minutes, squeeze it well, and start from the seasoning step. The unsafe shortcut is skipping the blanching and peeling with raw butterbur.
• •Perilla powder goes in near the end because it swells quickly. Add it too early and it drinks up the moisture before the stems soften.
• •If you cannot find meowi, cook chwinamul or gomchwi with the same seasoning. It will be a different namul, not a substitute in name, but the method will serve the green honestly.

Advance Preparation

• •The butterbur can be blanched, peeled, soaked, squeezed, and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead. Keep it covered, and season it only when you are ready to cook.
• •Finished meowi-namul keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. Eat it cool or let it sit 20 minutes at room temperature before serving; the perilla flavor opens up when it is not ice-cold.
• •Do not freeze finished namul. The stems lose their bite and the perilla coating turns grainy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)