Healing recipes Ginseng Tteokgalbi (meat balls)

Courtesy of Media Will

Tteokgalbi, or Korean meat balls, becomes chewier in texture the more you mince and knead the meat. As you add ginseng to the minced meat, the scent of the ginseng harmonizes with the meat to give it a deeper taste.

Ginseng is one of the most widely known medicinal herbs that replenish the Qi, or life energy in Oriental medicine. It bolsters the function of the brain to lessen forgetfulness, and forms sap in the body. It strengthens the respiratory organs and digestive organs at the same time and boosts immunity.

Tteokgalbi with ginseng will replenish both mind and body tired from the summer heat. As the minced meat will be better digested and absorbed, the dish is especially good to serve to the elderly.

Ingredients

(to serve two people)

You will need 250 grams of rib beef, a handful of overly fermented kimchi, five fresh ginseng roots, three jujubes, some pumpkin seeds, two tablespoons of glutinous rice flour, a half tablespoon of chopped pine, a teaspoon of sesame oil, and a teaspoon of chopped chives.

For seasoning the beef, you will need one tablespoon each of soy sauce, pear juice and Cheongju, or refined rice wine, a half tablespoon of honey, a half tablespoon of chopped garlic, a quarter tablespoon of minced garlic, some ground sesame and black pepper powder.

For the sauce for boiling beef, you will need two tablespoons each of soy sauce and “mulyeot,” or starchy syrup, a tablespoon of refined rice wine, sugar and “maesil cheong,” or plum extract, and a half cup of water.

Steps

1. Soak beef in water to get rid of the blood. Mince it and marinate in the seasoning for 30 minutes.

2. Get rid of fine roots of the fresh ginseng, slice it in half, and cut in five centimeter length.

3. Wash the overly fermented kimchi and mix it with sesame oil and chopped chives. Get rid of the seed from the jujube and spread it wide, and then roll it and slice the rolled jujube.

4. Add the glutinous rice flour and chopped pine to the marinated beef and knead them enough.

5. Divide the kneaded meat in appropriate size and roll it around the ginseng like a skewer.

6. Put the ingredients for sauce for boiling beef in the pan and boil them. In another pan, put the ingredients prepared in step 5 and bake them in medium heat.

7. When the meat is medium cooked, move it to the saucepan and coat it with sauce and bake it once more.

8. When the meat is fully cooked, put it on plates and decorate with pumpkin seeds and sliced jujube roll. Serve it with the kimchi prepared in step 3.

This is an excerpt from “Easy Yakseon Recipes” by Wang Hye-moon, a doctor of Korean Oriental medicine, published by Media Will.