Korean Perilla Leaf Kimchi (깻잎장아찌) – Banchan Recipes

While my family was in town in March, we took the opportunity to learn a few new banchan recipes! Since the korean food scene is lacking in Las Vegas, I’ve resorted to making my own. This was one of my favorites growing up, and it’s so simple to make, I’m not sure why I didn’t learn how to make it sooner.

I’ve been seeing Korean food everywhere lately, whether it’s in fusion or traditional.

“What chefs want to eat – and increasingly everybody – is Korean food.” – Anthony Bourdain. Here’s a video where Bourdain cooks korean food for Anderson Cooper and explains why America’s Top Chefs are obsessed with it. I’m no top chef, but I’m obsessed, and I’m happy to see that more people are becoming aware of Korean cuisine.

Korean Perilla Leaf Kimchi (깻잎장아찌) – Banchan Recipes

Ingredients:

2.5 Tablespoons soy sauce
2.5 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons gochugaru / korean red pepper flakes
60 perilla leaves (each bundle from the store had about 10)

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and korean red pepper flakes to make the marinade
Use 1/4 tsp of marinade and use a spoon to spread over each leaf.
Stack the next leaf and continue until they are covered with marinade.

Mom’s Notes:

You can replace fish sauce with more soy sauce in the same quantity.
You can skip a few leaves at a time when spreading the marinade (the lazy method), but it tastes better when you do them all.
Can keep refrigerated for 2-3 months in an airtight container. Make sure the leaves are covered in marinade or they will dry up.
Most koreans like to add 1/4 tsp of sogogi dashida, which has MSG. I personally think if it tastes better, I’m using it, but we gave you some alternative options in case you’re against it. My mom is actually a health nut and doesn’t like to eat much sugar or processed foods, but maybe because it’s so commonly used in korean cooking, she doesn’t mind a pinch here and there.
Some call this perilla leaf kimchi, but Koreans don’t call this a type of kimchi. It’s a type of jangajji, which is another form of pickling in a sauce for an extended period of time.
My mom grows her own perilla leaves in her backyard. Since we don’t have a backyard, and I have a black thumb, we haven’t attempted to grow them, but they are supposed to be easy to grow.

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