Musaengchae: Korean Spicy Radish Salad! This is my favorite Korean banchan dish because it’s sour, sweet and spicy. I love this so much! Add this to bibimbap, or simply enjoy this with rice and gim. It’s so good!
A visit to your local Korean market, Hmart or Asian market will probably be in order for this Korean banchan recipe. You can use a daikon radish, but I would encourage you to look for and buy a Korean radish for this recipe.
“Good Korean radishes are firm and the skin is a little shiny, without any scratches. The tops are pale green halfway down and fade to cream. It’s a varietal of the Daikon radish but it’s it’s shorter, fatter, and heavier, the flesh denser and the leaves a lot smoother.”
I also love this julienne tool for this recipe. I have three of the Titan vegetable peeler and julienne tool sets because I seriously use them all the time. This makes prepping the radish for this recipe a breeze.
Musaengchae: Korean Spicy Radish Salad
I said it above and I’ll say it again. What I love about this specific banchan dish is that it hits all notes on your palette: sweet, a little salty, spicy and sour. It’s like a party in your mouth. I also love that you don’t have to cook the radish at all. You simply salt it, let it sit for 5 minutes and then you use your hands to squeeze out the excess water from the radish strands. It’s so easy to make! We hope you try this!
Musaengchae: Korean Spicy Radish Salad
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large sized Korean radish* peeled and julienned
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 green onion diced
- 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru
- 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- Place your julienned radish into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle on the salt, mix and toss together with your hands and set aside for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, pour out and squeeze out all the excess water and place back into the bowl.
- Add in the garlic, green onions, vinegar, gochugaru and sugar. Toss and mix together and taste and adjust any ingredients as needed. Garnish with some sesame seeds and enjoy!
