One of the most popular Korean side dishes, this Korean radish salad (musaengchae) is incredibly moreish! Crunchy and spicy, it is so easy to make at home. Once you start, it’s very hard to stop!
Peel the Korean radish. Using a mandoline, slice 2cm thick and then cut them into matchsticks.
Add ½ tsp of salt to the Korean radish coat well. This will help draw out the water. Place in a colander or sieve and place over a prep bowl to allow the water to drip through for 30 minutes.
Chop the whole scallion (spring onion) or green onion.
Mince the garlic finely, or you can use the Korean minced garlic in a jar.
Grate the ginger to yield ½ tsp.
Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss well.
Serve.
Video
Notes
This is a vegan version of the musaengchae. If you prefer, you can create a pescatarian version by adding 1 tbsp of Korean fish sauce (myulchi aekjeot) or Korean salted shrimp (saeujeot).
You will be able to find Korean radish in the Korean supermarket. If not, you can just get a regular white radish (daikon). However, they are usually really big so by gauging the size you can get compared to the size of a Korean radish, adjust the servings accordingly.
You can use either scallion or green onions. Korean love to use green onions but try selecting ones with a small bulb so as not to make the salad overly pungent.
You can mince your own garlic or get the Korean minced garlic from the Korean supermarket or the Asian aisle of your supermarket. Really useful if you’re intending on making a big batch of Korean side dishes.
If you can’t find gochugaru to give the radish salad that quintessential Korean red, you can mix some familiar ingredients together, although it won’t really be the same. If you wish to try, I recommended 2 parts cayenne pepper to 1 part smoky paprika. If not spicy enough, add some chili flakes to the mix.