Perilla Oil Noodles. It's pronounced Deul-Gireum-Mat-Guksu (들기름 막국수) in Korean.
Lately, Katie and I have been on a wedding diet – trying to drop off a few more extra pounds before our big day in June!
What’s been very effective for us has been cutting down meal sizes (aka portion controlling) and sticking to the rule of “no eating after 7pm”.
(Sometimes, our meals take us to 7:15 – I’ll admit)
But I think you understand the spirit of our effort.
It’s been about 1.5 months, and I’ve lost ~4kg. Woo-hoo!
I’m now at my lowest weight I’ve been - probably since junior high.
(What a great feeling heh!)
One of my go-to meals during this dieting season has been this perilla oil noodles.
It’s healthy, quick-to-make and delicious!
If you have a bottle of perilla oil in your pantry, I highly recommend trying this minimal-style noodle recipe.
The soy sauce and perilla oil, along with the seaweed & sesame seed combination works beautifully.
It has a more sophisticated taste – in fact, I think it easily pass as a signature matjib (delicious restaurant) dish in Seoul.
Now, a few cooking tips for Perilla Oil Noodles:
If you can’t find perilla oil (anywhere), try Gochujar. But you can also simply use sesame oil instead of perilla oil (albeit, the two oils do taste quite different).
When making the topping, use the seaweed sheets made for sushi or kimbap – they come roasted but importantly, they are salted or oiled.
Tear the seaweed sheets into smaller pieces before adding them to the blender.
If it gets stuck blending – give it a few taps and jigs (or use a utensil to get the bigger pieces near the blades).
Don’t forget to drizzle-on the perilla oil over the plated noodles.
The mix of the nutty, fragrant perilla oil – with the soy sauce mixture is the whole point of this recipe.
Finally, at the end, I highly recommend garnishing with small bits of chopped chili peppers and onions.
It gives the dish a refreshing lift!
Enjoy ya’ll – I hope you dig this Korean style of eating Buckwheat Noodles.
Please note: Buckwheat noodles is called mat-guksu (맛국수) in Korea.
The preferred way to eat Mat Guksu is with a spicy, tangy gochujang sauce.
This soy-sauce & perilla version that we’re making today is less common – as Koreans love spicy foods.
However, this non-spicy version is also starting to gain traction with locals here in Korea.
If you’re in the mood for something light, this is a great option! 😉
(P.s. If you’re cooking alone, don’t get bored. Consider listening to our latest podcast episode while you cook!)
Ingredients
Soba Noodles & Fresh Ingredients
- 200 grams Buckwheat Noodles (Soba Noodles)
- 2 stalks Green Onion
- 2 Cheongyang Chili Pepper (or 1 Jalapeno Pepper) (Take the seeds out!)
- Drizzle of Perilla Oil
Seaweed & Sesame Seed Topping
- 2 Sheets of Dried Seaweed (Gim) (aka Nori Sheets)
- 4 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
Soba Sauce #1 (Preferred)
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Tsuyu Sauce (Japanese Sauce used for Soba & Tempura Sauce)
Soba Sauce #2 (Alternative)
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Oligodang Syrup
- 2 teaspoons(!) Mirin
Instructions
Make Seaweed Topping
- Use your hands and rip-up 2 rectangular sheets of dried seaweed into smaller pieces. Place into a blender. Then add in Sesame Seeds (4 Tablespoons). Blend until you get a nice powder.
Make Noodle Sauce
- Mix Soy Sauce (2 Tablespoons) with Tsuyu Sauce (1 Tablespoon).
Prep Toppings
- Finely dice green onion stalks into thin slices.
- De-seed chili peppers and chop up into small pieces.
- Then finely mince ⅓ of onion. Place the onion pieces into a bowl of cold water, along with a few dashes of vinegar. Leave it to soak - so it can lose its harsh onion flavor.
Boil Noodles
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Add noodles in - follow package instructions for timing.
- Drain water and cool down completely. Shake the drainer and allow noodles to drip off any excess water.
- Drain onion pieces as well - set aside for use as topping.
Plate Noodles
- Place noodles into a bowl. Scoop on ~3 spoonfuls of the sauce onto noodles. Drizzle on some perilla oil.
- Garnish with seaweed & sesame mix. Followed by a few pinches of the minced onion, green onion slices and chopped chili peppers.
- Stir-well and enjoy!! Bon Appetit.
I'll also add the recipe for our Gamja Jeon below - Korean Potato Pancakes.
The two complement each other for a set menu!
Ingredients
- 4 Medium-Sized Potatoes (Each, roughly size of your palm)
- ½ Onion
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Potato Starch
Instructions
Prep & Grate Potatoes
- Peel 4 Potatoes. Place them into a bowl of cold water after you peel each one - keeping them in water will keep from oxidizing and changing colors.
- Now, we highly recommend using a hand-grater (it will produce much better chewing texture than mixing in a blender). Take one potato and grate it through the hand grate. After grating the 1st potato, grate-in ½ an onion. The onion mixture will prevent the batter potatoes from oxidizing (and turning grey in color).
- Continue grating-in the rest of the potatoes. Now, stir the grated potato and onion mixture together evenly.
- Season the pancake mixture with 1 teaspoon of salt! (Note: You can add another 1 teaspoon(!) of salt if you will not dip in soy sauce later.) We will under-season the pancakes as it's usually dipped into a soy sauce dip when eating.
- Finally, add-in 1 Cup of Potato Starch Powder into the batter. Mix it in evenly - it's ready now for pan-frying!
Make Potato Pancakes
- Pour-in a few drizzles of vegetable oil into a frying pan. (When making jeon, it's okay to be generous with the oil). Place on medium-low heat.
- When oil gets hot, add-in a soup ladle's worth of pancake mix. Let it cook on one side for a few minutes until it gets light golden brown. Flip the pancake over and let it cook on the other side until it gets a light-browning.
- If you made the perilla noodles, you can dip the gamja jeon into the leftover sauce. Otherwise, you can make a simple soy sauce dip: 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce + a drizzle of Vinegar + a few drops of water.
- Bon Appetit!
Noa says
So quick to make yet delicious and satisfying! I make this at least twice a month. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Elaine says
Made it tonight for husbands birthday dinner and he loved it.
Anna says
Thank you for this recipe. I was looking for something refreshing to eat during the summer and I tried the perilla soba recipe last night. It was delicious and so easy to make!