I got these awesome Korean Leeks from my local Asian Market.

Last time I picked these leeks up I made whole wheat Korean Leek & zucchini pancakes that came out really well but this time I thought I’d make something different. It turns out that this salad came out FORKING Delicious. I’m beginning to think anything with gochujang can turn anything delicious. This salad is light, slightly sweet and not too spicy with a tasty mild veggie  garlic onion flavor.

I googled Korean Leek recipe and came across something called Seasoned Ramps (Dalae) Recipe by Naomi Imatome-Yun who is a Korean Food Expert. I sort of followed her recipe as a guild but didn’t have all the ingredients and made very slight changes for my taste. I am also assuming that kochujang and gochujang are the same because she used kochujang (a Korean Pepper paste made with rice flour) and I used gochujang that also is described as the same.  I also dropped the addition of salt, pinenuts and substituted Korean shredded red pepper for Korean Kochukaru pepper that I didn’t have. I also winged the proportions since it started out way different.

Other changes that I made were cutting the Korean Leeks in small bite size pieces instead of one inch cuts.

Ingredients

1 Korean Leek (mine made around 4 cups)

2 Tablespoons gochujang

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 apple sliced up

big pinch Korean shredded red pepper

Directions

Clean and smash the bulb end of Korean leek to release flavor.

Cut into bite size pieces and soak in a water filled bowl to release any dirt that remains.

In another bowl mix up the gochujang, sesame oil, rice wine and vinegar. Set to side.

Toast your sesame seeds in either a pan, the oven or just microwave toast them 30 seconds at a time till done. (they take about 1 1/2 minutes this way)

Now pull out your leeks to drain. Throw out the water and put leeks back in bowl. Slice up your apple and add that bowl

to your dressing bowl and mix. Lastly mix in your toasted sesame seeds and enjoy.

I also found this salad is delicious with cooked chicken. Just heat up your chicken in this salad with a little chicken broth or water and it’s just delicious.