Watercress Again

I was at a Korean grocery store last week and was so taken by the beautiful watercress, that I bought four bunches.  At an American grocery, that would have been 1/4 of my food budget, but I got these amazing, fresh and at 99 cents a bunch!

I had a post about Watercress just this past summer, but let me show you two slight variations.  Follow my previous post about soaking in salt water, rinsing, cutting and blanching the watercress.

Drain, then squeeze the excess water out with your hands:

Here is a more Korean way of making them, basically by eliminating the Oyster Sauce from the previous recipe I posted.  For two bunches of watercress,  I used about 1/2 t. of sugar, 5 Tblsp of soy sauce, and 1 minced clove of garlic.  Mix.

Add chopped scallions.  Then put the watercress in and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top.  This is called "minari moochim," (미나리 무침) or seasoned watercress.

Some people serve the watercress raw, like a salad, adding vinegar to the mixture above, to create a dressing.  That is terrific too, especially in the summer - fragrant and crunchy!  Just make sure to soak it in salt water and rinse thoroughly to remove as much pesticides as possible.

The second way is to serve it is warm mixed with just Oyster sauce and garlic.

Last night, I served it warm with Oyster sauce (top left) and cold Korean style (top right) with cabbage kimchi (bottom left,) dried laver (bottom center,) and radish kimchi (bottom right.)  Below are pictures of the dried laver seasoned with olive oil and salt, the oyster sauce and the two kinds of kimchi.

You can find all those things at the corner Korean grocery store.  (jk) Or the chains H-Mart and Assi. Bon appetit!