Simple Asian Sides
Anyone familiar with the Korean style of cooking will know all about ‘banchan’, the various little side dishes served with almost any meal - these will vary very much in flavour and texture, and give a very easy way of incorporating many different elements into just one meal. The best thing about it is that they can all be prepared beforehand and stored for a week or more at a time, meaning that all you have to do come dinner time is prepare the rice and a ‘main’ dish (steamed fish, anyone?), and with the banchan on the table, there’s more than enough flavour to keep the tastebuds happy.
These two are adaptations are variants on Japanese dishes - soybean and wakame salads, but with slight twists to make them slightly more Korean (though I have to admit that the wakame dish is a well-loved Korean standard, that sort of dish transfer tends to happen when one country occupies another. It’s also one aspect of Japanese restaurants serving kimchi that simultaneously cracks me up AND pisses me off!).
At any rate, they both make wonderful ‘banchan’/side dishes and take almost no time to prepare - which is a great bonus when you can’t be bothered with too much effort!
Sweet & Spicy Edamame Salad
(adapted from What Did You Eat)
Ingredients
1 cup fresh/frozen shelled edamame (soy beans)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1-2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1-2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup flaked almonds (toasted or untoasted is up to you)
1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced on a bias
1 tsp gochugaru (substitute with chilli flakes if necessary)
1. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and season with a generous pinch of salt, then add the edamame and boil for 3-5 minutes, or till tender. Rinse in cold water, then drain well. At this point you may want to remove the outer skin - I did as I had frozen beans and I find the skins on frozen beans to be icky but if you had fresh beans then it should be fine.
2. Tip the beans into a small bowl, then add the salt, sugar, sesame seeds and vinegar and toss to combine. Give this a taste, then give it a taste. The flavour you want to achieve here is a good balance between sweet and sour, with a certain depth and nuttiness added by the sesame. Add the gochugaru/chilli flakes and half the sesame oil, toss and taste again, and if it’s OK now, add in the spring onion and flaked almonds and toss once more to combine before serving.
3. Serve immediately, but it can also be stored in the fridge for up to a week - though the almonds can get a little soft in the moisture.
Wakame and Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
20g dried wakame leaves (get a good quality Japanese product as the Korean brands tend to have the thick, stringy stems attached)
1 small Lebanese (or similar sweet, thin-skinned cucumber)
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp gochugaru (can be substituted with chilli flakes)
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
1. Soak the wakame in 2-3 cups of cold water (this will expand a LOT in size!) and leave to sit for about 15-20 minutes.
2. Once the wakame is fully rehydrated and soft to the touch, drain and carefully squeeze out any excess water - you don’t want to mush the wakame, but any water will dilute the flavour and make the whole dish…watery. Funny that, ey?
3. Set aside the drained wakame, then cut the cucumber lengthwise in half and again across the width so you have four fingers, then use a teaspoon to carefully scoop out just the seeds (they too will dilute the flavour and make this dish watery). Slice each cucumber length into thin strips (as in the photo), then add to the wakame.
4. Place the wakame and cucumber in a bowl, then add the flavourings and toss well to evenly combine. Give it a taste and adjust as necessary (you want to achieve an equal balance between sweet, vinegary and spicy), then serve immediately. This can also be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
There you have it - two quick and easy banchan to add flavour to your meals!
Technorati Tags: recipes, Asian, Korean, Japanese, side dishes, vegetarian
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Comments
omg, it’s 9:30am here and i’m already drooling over my keyboard. i love love love wakame salad and cucumbers (especially oh-ee kimchi!). put the two together and you have one heck of a dish. 
That edamame salad looks to-die-for. My five sons and my husband and I all devour edamame, but usually boiled, drained, chilled and still in the pod with loads of sea salt and cracked black pepper. (Hubby and I consume with beer…) I’ve never even thought of serving it differently. I certainly will now!!! Thanks for the recipe and the inspiration!
@ AppetiteforChina - I hope you enjoy your trip to Korea, and hope you give some of the recipes a try!
@ Annina - My pleasure 
@ thecoffeesnob - They’re my favourite part of every meal 
@ Susan - Ahhh, cucumbers are too expensive here at the moment to make it, but I promise I’ll do a proper post on oee kimchi in the summer
@ Chris - They’re pretty wonderful
@ Asianmommy - Thank you
@ Rebecca (Foodie With Family) - I love having them that way at restaurants and I’d do it at home too if I could find fresh edamame in their pods 
Oh well, till I do, this will have to be enough for me
@ Jude - I hope you like it
@ Sophie - Thank you
@ MyKitchenInHalfCups - Thanks!
You make the simple panchan look so elegant! I love edamame and wakame both. Your recipes sound quite delicious. The toasted sesame oil is the key.
LOVE your blog! I just wandered in here and am in love with these salads. I try to make as many things as possible with edamame.
Just added you as a twitter friend too I’m @wildhoney.
I happened to have cucumber and edamame in the fridge,
Was wondering what am I gonna do with it,
Now I know what to do after reading your post!
@ Graeme - Thanks hon
@ Nate - Aww thank you And I agree, sesame oil is a very important ingredient to Korean cuisine
@ Olga - It tastes even better
@ Rachel - Aww, thanks hon Will have a look for you on Twitter
@ cindy - Oooh, nice idea - I’ll have to try adding it to my bibimbap next time!
@ Cindy - Enjoy
This is the perfect time of year for these refreshing salads! thanks for the inspiration to make the recipes!
Mmmm I adore Edamame… *drools*
Have you ever seen them fresh in Australia? Try as I might I have never seen them.
Mmmmmm…. craving some now.
Those salads look very very good indeed. I definitely need to get myself more edamame - haven’t used it in awhile.
That wakame and cucumber salad looks like something I could eat by the gallon. I have been wanting to make some easy banchan for a while, I want to try this recipe soon!
Ellie,
Being a slow starter, I have just taken an interest in Korean food. I would love to try these two recipes. They look divine. Can you please give some examples as to where I can get endamame and wakame leaves in Melbourne or its surrounding suburbs? Can I get them from the Chinese mart or are there some Korean specialty shops around?
Thanks a bunch.
My kids love edamame, I find it is a really effortless way of getting greens in as they will eat a bowl of these prior to dinner.
I do have some concerns re their growing conditions in China - pure speculation as opposed to knowing there are any issues.
The salad recipe looks delicious, I will try it this weekend.
@ Lu: I haven’t seen them fresh here but I’m sure they must be *somewhere* since I’ve had freshly prepared ones in restaurants :/
@ Y: I’ve always got a bag of frozen ones in my freezer these days
@ natasya: Wakame is easy enough to find - all the Chinese grocery stores around me stock it, just ask them for a Japanese seaweed for miso soup (that is what most folks use it for). Edamame is harder, I get some at the Springvale Markets and a local grocery store but if you’re closer to the city then you could try the Japanese grocery at Prahan markets.
@ foodlovers.co.nz: I can totally understand but hopefully the folks importing them are making sure they’re safe (o_O)
I have been reading your blog for a while, drooling over the pictures but not attempting any of the recipes. But since I just planned a trip to Korea for next week, I can’t wait to try some of your recipes soon.