Gosari Salad

고사리무침 [go-sa-ri-moo-chim]
This is the third in the Korean vegetable series followed by Spinach Salad and Bean Sprout Salad. While spinach and bean sprouts may be known to Westerners, gosari may still be quite foreign to many people. Gosari is the young stem of brackens which is often harvested in mountainous areas all over the world. While many cultures do not use this plant for cooking, it is commonly consumed in the Northeast Asia including Korea, Japan and China. As a matter of fact, it is also a typical ingredient in a popular mixed rice dish, bibimbap. The gosari salad in this recipe can be consumed as an independent side dish or as toppings for bibimbap.


Gosari is harvested in the spring time when its stem is still young and tender.


When harvested, they are boiled in water for about 5 minutes, then sun dried until they turn completely dry and dark brown as shown above for storage.


Prior to cooking, the dried gosari must be soaked in water overnight until the stems are wet and plump as shown here.


You still need to boil them in water until they turn soft like this. The volume will almost double when fully cooked and ready to be used. Depending on the quality of gosari, the cooking time could last from 10 minutes to an hour. It should be done when it's soft and you can easily chew on it.

Ingredients:

cooked gosari (300g, roughly cut in half lengthwise)
anchovy stock (1/3 cup, made of one large anchovy boiled in water for about 5 min)
olive oil (1 tbl)
sesame oil (1 tbl)
ground sesame seeds (1 tbl)

Seasoning Sauce:
Korean soy sauce (2 tbl)
garlic (1 cloves, minced)
green onion (2 tbl, chopped)
pepper (pinch)

1.

Prepare the seasoning sauce by mixing Korean soy sauce, minced garlic, chopped green onion and a pinch of ground pepper together.

2.

Season the cooked gosari in the seasoning mix in Step 1.

3.

Grease the pan with olive oil and stir fry the gosari mix from Step 2.

4.

Add anchovy stock, cover the lid and simmer for about 5 minutes.

5.

When the gosari mix is wet and moist in anchovy stock, add sesame oil and ground sesame seeds and stir fry for another minute or so.