This Korean-style spinach salad (Sigeumchi Namul), alongside the earlier featured soya bean sprouts salad, is one of the components for my favourite bibimbap. It is a popular banchan (side dish) to complement any Korean meal. It is super nutritious as you will be eating a lot more spinach than you realised. As a spinach lover, I absolutely love that I can taste the freshness of the spinach due to the light seasonings. Besides Korean food, it can be a all-side dish to any meal and a lunch box. You can also prepare this the night before for meal prep.
This was my spinach namul made using regular spinach, while the topmost featured pictured was made using baby spinach (salad leaves).
(1) Blanch spinach in a boiling pot of water for about 30-45 seconds.
(2) Take them out, run them under running tap water to cool down and remove the last bit of dirt. Trim and discard the bottom ends.
(3) and (4) wring out the excess water and you’ll have a dense spinach ball that is very much reduced from the amount you started with.
(5) Cut the spinach ball into 4 or more parts.
(6) Season the cut spinach with sesame oil, garlic salt (or salt + minced garlic), onion powder (or chopped spring onions) and lots of roasted sesame seeds. In place of salt, you can also use light soy sauce but that will give a more brownish look to the banchan.
As a short-cut, baby spinach salad leaves can be used. The pros are that they are 99% dirt free. If you buy ready-to-use pre-washed baby spinach, you don’t even have to rinse them. Their leaves are also so tender that they cook instantly in the boiling water – take them out as soon as they enter the boiling water. The flip side is the cost – baby spinach leaves are many times more expensive!! But you ever see a great deal at the supermarket for baby spinach, don’t miss this great opportunity to make sigeumchi namul!
(1) Served in a dolsot (hot stone):
The seasoned spinach salad is one important component in a dolsot bibimbap (click here for the recipe).
(2) Served in a dinner plate :
This was my simplified bibimbap recipe (click here for the recipe) with supermarket bulgogi beef and only a few toppings.
This recipe uses regular spinach, also labelled as “Phuay Leng”, “Chinese Spinach” and “菠菜” at local supermarkets in Singapore.
You can also use baby spinach salad leaves if you find a good deal for them. Wash the baby spinach if needed (some salad labels indicate that the salad has already been washed, so use them as they are in the bag). When at step 1, take the baby spinach out as soon as you put them in the boiling water.
Check out more tips and step-by-step photos on the previous page.