“I thought for a while what to cook, and chose things that are easy to cook but that can revive one’s appetite in springtime. In fact, we don’t have recipes that require sophisticated preparation or many supplementary ingredients in temple cuisine,” said Ven. Yeoil.

Saying her cooking skill is “just knowledge she picked up from everyday observations,” Ven. Yeoil reveals her humility, but the magic in her hands is well-known among her fellow Buddhist nuns from the early days of her monastic life.

Ven. Yeoil seemed to greatly enjoy talking about food. I could feel her love for food from her smile. Today’s dish is stringy stonecrop water kimchi, and the main ingredients are stringy stonecrop and wild water celery. Growing well in any environment, stringy stonecrop is found everywhere about this time of the year. In Korean it is called “dolnamul” or “donnamul” depending on the region.

Too commonplace, it’s sometimes neglected, but it is a nutritionally superb spring vegetable. Korean medicine says stringy stonecrop reduces fever, heals edema, and acts to detoxify the body. It has more calcium than milk and plenty of vitamin C, which makes it perfect to eat on a drowsy spring day.

Meanwhile, wild water celery (dolminari) helps cleanse blood vessels and strengthens your immune system with antioxidants. It provides nutrition for your liver, and its high fiber content alleviates constipation. Unlike marsh water celery (nonminari) which has long stems and grows in marshes, wild water celery has shorter stems, abundant leaves, and a stronger scent. To make clear stock for water kimchi, it’s better to wrap chili powder in a cotton cloth and infuse its red color into the water.

Into this add stringy stonecrop and wild water celery cut into bite sizes. Then add shredded ginger, and thinly sliced radish and carrots.

Instead of sugar, use grated apple and pear. Add salt to taste. Let the kimchi sit at room temperature for a day to enjoy a refreshing and fragrant stock.

Stringy stonecrop water kimchi

Water kimchi is made with stringy stonecrop, which is commonplace and easy to find.

When you trim it well and put in some effort, you can have refreshing spring kimchi in a day or two. It is so refreshing that you may feel like your bronchial tubes are suddenly open wide.

Ingredients

200 g stringy stonecrop
100 g wild water celery
100 g white radish
30 g carrot
1 tbsp sea salt
For glutinous rice paste
2 tbsp glutinous rice flour
1 cup water

For kimchi stock

1.5 liter water
1/4 apple
1 piece ginger
1/4 pear
1 tbsp house soy sauce
2 tbsp sea salt
3 tbsp Korean chili powder

Directions

1. Wash stringy stonecrop and wild water celery, and drain on a wicker tray. Cut wild water celery into strips 4 centimeters long.

2. Thinly slice the white radish and sprinkle salt on them.

3. Mix glutinous rice flour with water and cook into paste.

4. Add water to apple, ginger and pear, and grind in a blender.

5. Wrap Korean chili powder in a cotton cloth, soak it in water, and shake the cloth until the stock turns orange. Add house soy sauce, white radishes from step 2, and sea salt. Filter out coarse particles from the mixture of step 4, and put the liquid into the stock.

6. Into a kimchi container put in stringy stonecrop and wild water celery, and add the stock from step 5. Let it sit at room temperature for two days and then refrigerate.

Article by Ven. Yeoil
Provided by Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism

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Temple food is food of the ascetics who express gratitude for all forms of life and wish for peace for the whole world. The Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism operates the Korean Temple Food Center where guests can learn and experience temple food. -- Ed.