Korean Pickled Perilla Leaves (Kkaennip Jangajji)

Pic from: koreanbapsang.com

A member of the mint family, Perilla or beefsteak plant is a popular herb/ vegetable used in Japanese and Korean cooking. There are two main types of perilla leaves red and green. Red perilla leaves are used in many pickled style dishes and green perilla leaves are often served with sashimi or fried as a tempura item. The kind found at the Montgomery garden is a Korean perilla type known as Kkaennip. In Korea, these leaves are used to make many side dishes such as perilla kimchi (kkaennip kimchi), pickled perilla leaves, (kkaennip jangajji ), and perilla leaf pancakes (kkaennip jeon).

Ingredients:

16 Perilla leaves

Seasoning sauce

  • 5 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp Korean chili flakes
  • 1 tsp pinced garlic
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp green onion
  • 1 tbsp red chilies (optional)

Instructions:

1) Rinse leaves in cold water and drain, allowing the leaves to dry in the colander.

2) Finely chop green onions and red chili peppers, and add to a large bowl. Then add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and mix.

3) Place the 2-3 leaves into a large glass container with a lid and add ~ 1 Tbsp worth of seasoning sauce on top of the leaves and repeat the process every 2-3 leaves. Pour over the leaves any leftover at the end.

4) Close the lid and store in the fridge to marinate for a day.

5) The next day, make a pot of sushi rice and serve the pickled leaves on top of the rice as shown in the picture.