Place dried bellflower root into a bowl, add water and cover with cling film. Soak overnight in the refrigerator. Drain, pat dry and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add gochujang, gochugaru, rice syrup, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, salt, and scallions. Mix until well combined.
Add Korean bellflower root and toss until well coated.
Add sesame oil and sesame seeds and toss until well coated.
Serve.
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Notes
The amount of gochujang required for this side dish is important. We need the paste to bind all the ingredients together. If you wish to dial the heat up or down, adjust the gochugaru.
If you don’t have rice syrup you can use corn syrup. You just need the sticky sweet consistency to work with all the other ingredients.
Apple cider vinegar is a good alternative for rice wine vinegar. Just requires the acidity and tang to cut through the flavours.
For a gluten free recipe, replace soy sauce with tamari and ensure that the gochujang is made from glutinous rice and not barley malt.
Soak for a good 12 hours at a minimum to really reconstitute the dried bellflower roots. It naturally has a crunchy texture, but you don’t want it to be chewy because it is still a little dry.
After draining the bellflower roots, ensure they are nice and dry before adding to the sauce mixture. You don’t want this Korean side dish to be wet and soggy.
Gochujang and rice malt syrup are2 ingredients that are essential for the success of this recipe. The sticky, silky sauce attaches itself right across the bellflower roots and gives it the much-needed flavours.