I am so excited to share my favorite Korean side dish recipe: steamed eggplant, gaji-namul 가지나물! It’s super delicious and easy to make. It’s an everyday side dish that you can eat along with other side dishes, meats and rice. It has the perfect balance of flavor, soft texture and purple color. If I was hooked from the first day I tried it, you just might be too.

To make this dish, you’ll need an interesting cooking tool that I discovered in Korea, a steamer basket! You can buy one on Amazon.

Ingredients

• 3 Korean eggplants
• 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 2 stalks of finely green onions (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon of Korean hot pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds
• ½ tablespoon of sesame oil 
• 2 ½  tablespoon of soy sauce

Tool

• steamer basket

Let’s Cook!

Wash and chop each eggplant into three pieces (two and a half inches) then chop each piece in half.

Next, the fun part: steaming the eggplant. To prepare, wash a pot and pour two cups of water inside. Set your opened steamer basket inside and let the water come to a boil.

When the water is boiling, lay the pieces of eggplant on the steamer basket. Cover the pot with the lid and steam for 5 – 10 minutes over high heat.

After the eggplants are completely steamed (firm not mushy), carefully pick up the piece and place them on a chopping board. Please be very careful! The eggplants will be super hot. Use a fork or tongs to pick them up. Heads up! The purple color from the eggplant can stain. Add a sheet of wax paper or cooking sheet on the surface of your chopping board.

When the eggplants have cooled off for five to ten minutes, use your fingers to rip the eggplant pieces into three or two more pieces. Place the pieces in a wide bowl.

Next, make the sauce. You can prepare the sauce before or after steaming the eggplants. 

In the same bowl, add three cloves of minced garlic, two stalks of finely chopped green onions,  1 teaspoon of Korean hot pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds, 2 ½  tablespoon of soy sauce, and ½ tablespoon of sesame oil. Mix all the ingredients with your hand or gently with a wooden spoon.

Let’s Eat!

Now that your steamed eggplant side dish is ready, you can eat it along with other side dishes like Spicy Cucumber, meats and rice. I will mention, when I have eaten this side dish it wasn’t hot. Perhaps it was left outside to cool down to room temperature or refrigerated. Feel free to refrigerate any leftovers and eat the rest the following day.

Mas-issge deuseyo 맛있게 드세요. Enjoy our meal!