Perilla Cabbage Ssam Salad with Doenjang Sesame Dressing 🥗🇰🇷

Description

A bold Korean ssam style salad with crunchy cabbage, cool cucumber, fragrant perilla, and a creamy doenjang sesame dressing that tastes deep and savory.
Hook ✨
It eats like a salad and a ssam at the same time, crisp, herby, nutty, and addictive with every fork.

Ingredients

• 🥬 300 g napa cabbage, thin shredded (6 cups / 10.6 oz)
• 🥒 200 g cucumber, thin sliced (2 cups / 7 oz)
• 🧅 60 g red onion, very thin sliced (½ cup / 2.1 oz)
• 🌿 30 g perilla leaves, thin sliced, or mint plus basil (1 packed cup / 1 oz)
• 🥜 30 g roasted peanuts, chopped (¼ cup / 1.1 oz)
• 🌱 10 g sesame seeds, toasted (1 tbsp / 0.35 oz)
• 🟤 6 g fine sea salt, divided (1 tsp / 0.21 oz)
• Quick pickle rinse
• 🍶 30 ml rice vinegar (2 tbsp / 1 fl oz)
• 💧 120 ml cold water (½ cup / 4 fl oz)
• 🍬 10 g sugar (2 tsp / 0.35 oz)
• Doenjang sesame dressing
• 🥣 35 g doenjang (2 tbsp / 1.2 oz)
• 🥣 15 ml soy sauce (1 tbsp / ½ fl oz)
• 🍯 20 ml honey or sugar syrup (4 tsp / 0.7 fl oz)
• 🍋 20 ml lemon juice (4 tsp / 0.7 fl oz)
• 🍶 15 ml rice vinegar (1 tbsp / ½ fl oz)
• 🧄 6 g garlic, grated (2 cloves / 0.21 oz)
• 🌿 15 ml toasted sesame oil (1 tbsp / ½ fl oz)
• 💧 30–45 ml cold water to loosen (2–3 tbsp / 1–1½ fl oz)
• ⚫ 1 g black pepper (¼ tsp / 0.04 oz)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Quick pickle the onions
2. Whisk rice vinegar, cold water, sugar, and 2 g salt, add onion, soak 10 min, then drain well. 🧅
3. 2️⃣ Salt and chill the cucumber
4. Toss cucumber with 2 g salt, rest 10 min, then pat dry so the salad stays crisp, not watery. 🥒
5. 3️⃣ Cut the cabbage for crunch
6. Shred napa cabbage finely, toss with 2 g salt, rest 5 min, then squeeze gently once and fluff to keep it crisp. 🥬
7. 4️⃣ Blend the dressing smooth
8. Whisk doenjang, soy sauce, honey, lemon, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, pepper, and enough cold water to make it pourable, 20 sec. 🥣
9. 5️⃣ Build the salad
10. In a large bowl combine cabbage, cucumber, drained onion, and perilla, then toss 20–30 sec to mix evenly. 🌿
11. 6️⃣ Dress and finish
12. Add dressing little by little until glossy, then top with peanuts and toasted sesame seeds, serve immediately. ✨

Total Time

⏱️ Prep: 20 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 0 min
🛋️ Rest: 15 min
⏰ Total: 35 min

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