Korean recipes:
Eggplant side dish (gaji namul)
Gaji namul is one of the basic Korean vegetable side dishes. I remember what my grandmother told my aunts about gaji namul. She said, “gaji namul should always be mixed with lots of crushed garlic and sesame oil to make it really delicious!” Since I heard it, I have always used garlic generously in my gaji namul.
Ingredients:
3 medium sized Asian eggplant, 2½ tbs soy sauce, 1 chopped green onion, 2 cloves of garlic, ½ tbs of roasted sesame seeds, ½ tbs of sesame oil, 1 ts of hot pepper flakes
- Cut 3 medium sized Asian eggplants into 2 or 3 pieces. Then cut each piece in half lengthwise
- Pour 2 cups of water into a steamer, and place the pieces of eggplant inside. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes over high heat.
- Turn the heat off and move the cooked eggplant to a bowl. Set it aside to cool down.
- After the eggplant has cooled, drain the liquid from the bottom of the bowl.
- Tear each piece of eggplant lengthwise with your fingers, and put the strips into a large bowl.
- Add these seasonings to the bowl: 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 ts of hot pepper flakes, 1 chopped green onion, ½ tbs sesame seeds, 2½ tbs soy sauce, and ½ tbs sesame oil.
- Mix it all together with your hand.
Serve with rice as a side dish.
Looks wonderful, I love eggplant especially the Asian ones. My favorite way to eat regular eggplant is grilled rubbed with salt and olive oil. I also like it deep=fried (which I know is pretty bad)
Again though, thanks for the post, I love that you did pictorials, keep up the good work!
October 25th, 2008 at 11:40 pmNathan,
October 26th, 2008 at 12:30 amYeah, your grilled or deep fried eggplant recipe sounds great!
I love the weather down here in Texas now. Its nice and windy cold but the sun still shines. I might go to H-Mart today so ill be sure to pick up some eggplants. Thanks for another great recipe Maanchi!
PS
October 26th, 2008 at 8:41 amWIll you be doing some more soup recipes as winter is aproaching?
Anonymous,
October 26th, 2008 at 8:46 amYes, I will! : )
wow~~I like namuls one of which is gagi namaul^^!!!
October 29th, 2008 at 1:40 amSpecially, I love that is made by my mam~
When I saw the UCC, I missed my mam ㅠㅠ
maangchiiii
i made this for my dinner just now..nyummm =D thanks for ur kindness sharing recipes (love vdos!) i LOVE eggplant too..but yea, i think it isnt spicy enough. i only made 1/2 eggplant for my side dish and use 1tsp of the red pepper n not spicy at all, altho i’ve reduced the soy sauce..i think i’ll put more..i wish i could find the one in bag like yours. there’s only the one put in plastic bottle at the grocery here, it’s more expensive =(
anyway THANK YoU..keep posting =))
October 30th, 2008 at 7:01 pmEunyoung,
yeah, mom’s food is number one! That’s what my children say, too. : )
mei,
October 30th, 2008 at 11:02 pmyeah, next time, you will make perfect gajinamul (eggplant side dish)! Thank you!
i love your eggplan salad its great!
November 10th, 2008 at 6:56 pmcan i use red pepper paste instead of red pepper flakes?
November 13th, 2008 at 3:21 amAnonymous,
November 13th, 2008 at 6:52 amYes, you can use hot pepper paste if you don’t have hot pepper flakes. If you don’t like hot spicy food, you can skip it, too.
Hi Maangchi,
Your eggplant recipe is great because I always try to add more vegetable in my meal planning. Since my kids are not into the spices yet, I don’t usually add hot pepper. And they are not very much vegetable munching type, could you recommend some great vegetable dishes that kids would like? I sometimes hides vegetables in their brownies just to add extra vitamins in their tummies. Please reply to my email as well. Thanks.
Great fan of yours.
November 16th, 2008 at 4:52 amcharlie,
November 16th, 2008 at 8:15 amHiding some vegetables in brownies is a great idea!
Carrot cake will trick your children, too. : ) How about bibimbap? Skip hot pepper paste if they can’t eat hot spicy food.
You can talk about this in the forum here. You may get better advice from others.
Hi Maangchi,
I have made this gaji namul recipe twice now and I really love it. I made it yesterday and when the eggplant was done steaming, the water that was left in the pot had turned BRIGHT green! Has that ever happened to you?
There is a picture of it on my blog here: http://juniperusjosh.blogspot.com/2008/11/eggplant.html
November 21st, 2008 at 8:21 pmJosh,
November 21st, 2008 at 11:33 pmIt sometimes happens. Don’t worry. The color from eggplant comes out when it’s steamed.
OMG Maangchi. I usually hate eggplant. I love eggplant this way! I had it with rice and baked mackerel! I wanna eat it all.
Oh man that was YUMMY!
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 pmPreesi
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:06 pmOMG, roasted mackerel and gajinamul,and rice! How about kimchi? It sounds very healthy and delicious combination. : ) I like this eggplant side dish a lot.
I made this today.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 pmI ate it for lunch with rice (mixed with multi grains, seeds and beans) and kimchi.
Sylvia,
December 4th, 2008 at 7:31 amYour lunch sounds like very healthy food!
Hi Maanngchi,
December 27th, 2008 at 6:21 pmToday was my Mom’s birthday so I made your eggplant sidedish, microwave egg dish, and served it with rice and kimchi! and hobakjuk for dessert! she LOVED it and was impressed. I actually was watching your video on ITUNES PODCAST when I make it! Thank you so much, Maangchi! You make the videos so easy to understand and recipes so easy to follow that even someone like me who is only 15 can make it!! I will make ALL your dishes soon.
너무 맛있다! 감사합니다!
-Jihyun (지현)