Summer is already just around the corner. Many people tend to lose their appetite in the early summer due to rising temperatures. In this time of the year, watercress -- minari in Korean -- can be helpful in maintaining good health, as its unique bitter taste stimulates the appetite.

This plant is one of the most common ingredients in many dishes, including many varieties of kimchi. One such dish is watercress bundles with meat, or minari ganghoe, a dish of pressed meat, red peppers, and garnishes of egg white and yolk, tied into bundles with blanched minari strips. It's a seasonal dish, especially popular on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and was also enjoyed in the ancient royal court. The word ganghoe describes foods that are bundled and tied with blanched vegetables. This dish has a chewy texture and a unique flavor from the natural ingredients. Each ingredient creates colorful harmony with the others, amusing both the mouth and the eyes.

Watercress can be also good for the health, as it's full of vitamins and minerals that clean the blood and help with detoxification. Such medicinal effects are thanks to the flavonoid elements in the plant: isorhamnetin and persicarin. According to the "Dongui Bogam" (동의 보감, 東醫寶鑑), a 1613 classic of Oriental medicine and one of the best-known Joseon books about health and medicine, watercress helps with digestion, helps ease jaundice, and helps with "women’s diseases." It also eases hangover symptoms, such as headaches or vomiting.



* Ingredients
120 grams beef, top round
1.2 kilograms (6 cups) water
50 grams watercress (minari)
600 grams (3 cups) water
6 grams (½ tablespoon) salt
10 grams (½ each) red pepper
120 grams (2 each) egg
13 grams (1 tablespoon) cooking oil

vinegar red pepper paste:
38 grams (2 tablespoons) red pepper paste
15 grams (1 tablespoon) vinegar
6 grams (½ tablespoon) sugar



* Preparation
1. Clean the blood off the beef with a cotton cloth.
2. Pour the water into a pot. Heat it for 6 minutes over high. When boiling, lower the heat to medium and add the beef. Let it simmer for 40 minutes. Cool it. Slice the beef into strips that are 4 centimeters long, 1.2 centimeters wide and 0.5 centimeters thick.
3. Remove the leaves of the watercress and wash the stalks.
4. Fry the egg yolks and egg whites separately, making them each into a round omelet or pancake. Slice each into strips that are 0.3 centimeters thick, 1.2 centimeters wide and 4 centimeters long.
5. Cut the red peppers into slices that are 3 centimeters long and 0.3 centimeters wide.
6. Prepare the vinegar red pepper paste.



** Recipe
1. Pour the water into a pot. Heat it for 3 minutes over high. When boiling, scald the watercress with salt for 30 seconds making sure that it maintains its green color. Rinse them in water and cut them into slices 15 centimeters long.
2. Layer the beef slices, the garnish of egg whites and egg yolks, and the red pepper slices into small stacks. Bind them in the middle with two twists of watercress.
3. Serve with the vinegar red pepper paste.



Managed by Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
In cooperation with the Institute of Traditional Korean Food (ITKF)
Recipe from “The Beauty of Korean Food: 100 Best-Loved Recipes”
arete@korea.kr