Pa Muchim

Korean spring onions shredded lengthways and dressed with chilli, vinegar, and sesame for the barbecue table

Origin: Korea

From the journey of Spring Onion.

A Korean barbecue table is an exercise in managing fat, and pa muchim is the tool for it. Spring onions are shredded lengthways into fine threads, soaked briefly in cold water to take the harshest edge off, then dressed with gochugaru, vinegar, sesame oil, and a little sugar and soy. The result is sharp, sour, and faintly sweet, and a tangle of it eaten with a piece of grilled pork belly resets the palate completely. Without it, by the fourth or fifth piece the fat begins to accumulate and everything tastes the same. The shredding is done with a purpose-made tool, a pa chae slicer with a row of fine blades, drawn down the length of the onion. Restaurants that take it seriously shred to order, because the threads oxidise and wilt within a couple of hours. A sharp knife and patience achieve the same thing more slowly. The soak is the step most non-Korean recipes leave out, and it changes the dish. Raw shredded scallion is aggressive; ten minutes in cold water removes enough of the volatile sulphur compounds to leave sweetness and bite without the burn, and it also curls the threads, which is where the characteristic tangled look comes from. It belongs to the wider family of muchim, dishes dressed by hand rather than cooked, and the verb muchida means precisely to toss and mix with the fingers. Koreans regard using tongs for this as a small failure of feeling.

Ingredients

Salad

  • 250 g spring onions, the longest and straightest you can find

Dressing

  • 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
  • 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds, plus more to finish
  • 1 clove garlic, finely grated, optional

Method

  1. Trim the roots and cut the spring onions into 8 cm lengths, keeping white and green together.
  2. Shred each length lengthways into fine threads with a pa chae slicer, or by halving thicker pieces and slicing them very thinly with a sharp knife.
  3. Drop the shredded onion into a bowl of cold water and leave for ten minutes.
  4. Drain thoroughly and spin or pat dry. The threads must be dry or the dressing will slide off and pool.
  5. Whisk the gochugaru, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, and garlic if using into a loose paste.
  6. Add the onion threads to the dressing and toss with your fingers until every strand is coated.
  7. Scatter with more sesame seeds and serve straight away, alongside grilled pork belly, short rib, or any grilled meat.

Notes

Gochugaru is Korean chilli flake, coarse, bright red, and mild by the standards of most dried chilli. Ordinary chilli flakes are far hotter and much less fruity, so halve the quantity if that is all you have. A pa chae shredder costs very little from a Korean grocer and turns a twenty-minute job into a two-minute one. It keeps for a day in the refrigerator but is markedly better within an hour or two of dressing. Serve with samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly), galbi, or any Korean barbecue. It is also excellent piled onto a plain bowl of rice with a fried egg, which is what happens to the leftovers.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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