Monday, May 12, 2008

Grilled Dried Pollock in Spicy Sauce

황태양념구이 [Hwang-Tae-Yang-Nyum-Gu-Yi]

According to my mom and my aunt, this is supposed to one of the hard-to-find dish that requires premium quality dried pollock and well-mixed sauce. Thanks to my aunt who brought dried pollock on her recent trip to Korea and gave us some, we got to enjoy this special dish. As I watched my mom make the dried pollock dish, I wondered how on earth Koreans figured out drying fish and then moistening them again to make sponge-like fish which, in the process, generates uniquely delicious flavor and texture that is quite playful in the mouth.

For 4 servings

dry pollock (2, cut roughly into 4 pieces)
red pepper paste (1 tbl)
chili powder (2 tbl)
soy sauce (1 tbl)
honey (1 tbl)
Asian pear (1/4 cup, puree)
scallion (1, chopped)
onion (1/2, medium size puree)
sesame seeds (1 tbl)
pine nuts (1 tbl, for garnish) optional



1.
Dry pollock look like this.

2.
Cut each dry pollock roughly into four pieces.

3.
Soak dry pollock thoroughly in water.

4.
Patdry the wet 'dry pollock' with paper towel and lay them flat.

5.
Make the sauce by mixing in red pepper paste (1 tbl), chili powder (2 tbl), soy sauce (1 tbl), and honey (1 tbl).

6.
Prepare other vegetables (asian pear, scallion, onion, garlic, etc) to be mixed into the sauce.

7.
Grind Asian pear, onion and garlic in a blender.

8.
Mix the red pepper/chili mix (Step 5) and the vegetable puree from Step 7.

9.
Marinate the pollock in the sauce.

10.
You could panfry them right away to eat, or they could be kept refrigerated several weeks.

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