[Myungyi-namul: ramp, Jangajji: Korean pickles made usually made with soy sauce and vinegar or a gochujang (red pepper paste) mixture]

The first time I had ramp was about two years ago at my favorite Korean barbeque restaurant in Seoul called, Mooduengsan (무등산). My friend and I ordered rib eye steak grilled Korean style and the waitress brought out myungyi-namul jangajji (명이나물 장아찌). She suggested that we wrap the rib eye with this pickled vegetable like ssam (쌈) or lettuce wrap. The result was so delicious I couldn’t believe it. It is also great with grilled samgyupsal or pork belly!  Myungyi-namul is also called san-maneul (산마늘) literally means “mountain garlic” because it grows in the woods and tastes like garlic. I recently discovered that this delicious vegetable is called ramp at the farmer’s market when I overheard two Korean women talking about it. Of course, I had to buy it and experiment with pickling ramp. You can also find ramps at Whole Foods these days. The result was fantastic and every week, I end up buying more ramps at the farmer’s market to pickle them. This pickled ramp lasts up to a year so go ahead and pickle as much as you can. Luckily, ramp season is not over just yet, so hurry and make this delicious dish.

Relate recipe: Samgyupsal-guyi & Ssamjang (삼겹살구이 & 쌈장)

Ingredients:

• Ramp
• Soy sauce
• Water
• Sugar
• White vinegar

1. Combine soy sauce, water, sugar and white vinegar to 3:3:1:1 ratio and bring it to a boil. You need a little more than enough soy sauce mixture to cover all the ramp leaves.
2. Let it cool to room temperature.
3. In the meantime, separate the ramp leaves and clean the leaves individually under running water. Let it dry and wipe off any extra moisture with a paper towel.
4. Lay the ramp leaves in a sterilized glass container and pour the cooled soy sauce mixture over the ramp. You may want to stop the ramp leaves from floating by placing a smaller dish on top of the ramp.
5. Keep it out in room temperature for 3 days. Then, pour out the soy sauce mixture and bring it to a boil. Let it cool to room temperature and pour the sauce back in with the ramps.
6. Repeat this process two more time, every 3 days. I write down the days I need to do this process on the container so I don’t forget.
7. Place it in the refrigerator after the last time you do this process. You can enjoy this pickle after 3 days in the refrigerator.

Here is an example of the timeline.

-May 1^st: Clean ramp leaves, make sauce and boil. Cool to room temperature and pour into glass jar with the ramps.

-May 4^th: Pour out the sauce, boil, cool to room temperature and pour it back into the ramps.

-May 7: Repeat the process above. Place in refrigerator.

-May 10^th: Enjoy your myungyi-namul jangajjii (명이나물 장아찌)!!!