Easy Korean Spinach Side Dish with Sesame Seeds

Easy Korean Spinach Side Dish with Sesame Seeds

This simple recipe for Korean sesame spinach doesn’t have many ingredients but does require a little bit of hand labor to squeeze out the blanched spinach. Once you do, this is a delightful way to enjoy this dark, leafy green and its succulent stems.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Korean

Diet Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword spinach, vegan

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 99kcal

Author Agile Test Kitchen

Equipment

1 large pot to boil water It should hold at least 3 qt of water

Ingredients

8 oz spinach leaves with stems or about 10 cups of loosely packed leaves, see Note 1 for substitute
¼ teaspoon salt or ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tb sesame oil
2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Bring at least 2 qt of water to a boil in a pot large enough to hold the spinach.. (I used a 12 inch sized wok).
While you're waiting for the water to boil, trim off the root end of the spinach, if attached, so you have individual spinach leaves with their stems. Wash and drain the leaves to remove dirt. You don't need to dry too much, since they will go back into the water to cook.
Add the spinach to the boiling water. Stir to make sure they are submerged and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute until the stems are tender but not overcoooked and mushy. The water does not need to return to a boil.
Remove the spinach from the hot water. Rinse under cold running water or dip into an ice bath to stop the spinach from continuing to cook.
Take handfuls of the drained spinach and squeeze out excess water. It should be dry with no dripping water.
Put the dry spinach into a bowl. Massage in salt to season the leaves. Then mix in sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.
Taste for seasoning and add salt or soy sauce as needed.
Serve at room temperature or cold from the fridge.

Notes

This recipe makes just over 1 cup of spinach. This will serve 2 people at ½ cup each or 4 people at ¼ cup each if served with other side dishes.

Substitute with baby spinach. For cooking in boiling water, the leaves just need to be dipped in to wilt and quickly removed. They should not sit in the hot water for too long or they'll overcook.
Squeezing out as much water as you can from the spinach is essential so the spinach absorbs the seasoning and doesn't taste watery.
Garlic variation - Add ¼ teaspoon of finely minced garlic.
Soy sauce variation - Substitute soy sauce for the salt.
Make this up to 2-3 days ahead of time. Store in the fridge.

Nutrition