Perilla (Shiso) kimchi.
Once again we were faced with a bounty of shiso leaves at season end. This Perilla (Shiso) Kimchi recipe is an amalgam of several we found online. It’s got a nice kick to it and would be a welcome addition to a spread of panchan. Makes about a pint.
Ingredients:
Freshly picked and washed perilla or shiso leaves, about a quart
1 scallion finely chopped (about ¼ cup)
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 T gochugaru
1 T fish sauce
1 T soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T maple syrup or sugar
1 t toasted sesame seeds
¼ c water
Method: combine all ingredients except leaves then mix with shiso/perilla, massaging with your hands till all surfaces are coated. Marinate overnight in refrigerator. Transfer to a storage container, opening up and flattening the leaves as best you can. Will last a couple weeks refrigerated.
Note: the Korean auntie preps we found all have you painting the individual leaves with the marinade but we didn’t have the patience. Hopefully our shortcut is an acceptable compromise.
This joins our other shiso storage preps including salting (worked well) and freezing (not so much). It is interesting that the size of the leaves, and thus their appeal as banchan, is determined by how many plants are growing in close proximity; our biggest leaves were from some volunteer plants that popped up in our tomato pot. Next season we will thin more aggressively when the shoots first appear.
