Ingredients
| SALAD | |
| 75g dried shrimps | |
| 5 spring onions, trimmed | |
| 2 teaspoons sugar | |
| 2 tablespoons soy sauce | |
| 2 tablespoons rice vinegar | |
| 1 tablespoon fish sauce | |
| 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil | |
| ½-1 teaspoon hot chilli flakes | |
| ½ telegraph cucumber, cut in batons | |
| 200g bean sprouts | |
| 100g snow pea shoots | |
| GLAZE | |
| 2 tablespoons gochujang paste | |
| 2 cloves garlic, crushed | |
| 2 tablespoons honey | |
| 1 tablespoon soy sauce | |
| TTEOK-KKOCHI | |
| 40 (about 350g) Korean rice cakes | |
| 1 tablespoon oil, such as peanut or sunflower | |
| SQUID SKEWERS | |
| 250g cleaned squid tubes, sliced into 2cm strips | |
| sesame seeds, toasted |
Tteok are Korean rice cakes and they are a common street food when skewered (kkochi) and grilled. I love this with the umami flavours of dried fish and fish sauce. Dried shrimps come in all shapes and sizes; for salad I like the larger, meatier ones, more similar in size to fresh shrimps. To make this vegan, replace the squid with tofu, the honey with rice syrup and use a tablespoon of miso paste in the salad instead of shrimp and fish sauce.
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Instructions
| 1. | Soak the shrimps in a bowl of water for 30 minutes then drain well. |
| 2. | Cut the dark green ends off the spring onions, finely slice and set aside. |
| 3. | Cut the light parts in half horizontally. Put into a flat dish, sprinkle over the sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon vinegar and mix. Stir occasionally. |
| 4. | For the dressing, combine the remaining vinegar and soy sauce, the fish sauce, sesame oil and chilli flakes in a large bowl and set aside. |
| 5. | Heat a frying pan and toast the shrimps for 5 minutes until fragrant. |
| 6. | Crush the shrimps lightly with a pestle either directly in the frying pan or transfer to a mortar, or roughly chop them on a board. |
| 7. | Add the shrimps and cucumber to the dressing and toss to coat. |
| 8. | Have a bowl of iced water ready. |
| 9. | Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the bean sprouts and snow pea shoots for 1 minute then drain, refresh with cold water then plunge into iced water. |
| 10. | Drain well and add to the shrimp dressing but do not toss. |
| 11. | Just before serving, add the marinated spring onion and the reserved sliced green spring onion and toss well. |
| 12. | For the glaze, put the gochujang paste, garlic, honey and soy sauce in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of water and heat to just bubbling then set aside. |
| 13. | Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook the rice cakes for about 3-4 minutes to soften – watch them as you don’t want to overcook them as they will fall apart. |
| 14. | Drain, refresh with cold water and toss in a bowl with the oil to stop them from sticking. |
| 15. | Thread 5 rice cakes onto each skewer, making 8 skewers. |
| 16. | Thread pieces of squid onto a skewer, making 8 skewers. |
| 17. | Heat a hibachi, barbecue or other grill to very hot and cook the skewers for 2-3 minutes or to your liking, brushing with glaze while they cook. |
| 18. | Serve with the salad and scatter with sesame seeds. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith/ Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Lascelles