Skewered Boiled Beef (Hwayangjok)

Skewered Boiled Beef (Hwayangjok)

Ingredients: 1/2 lb. pressed meat, 6 dried brown, oak mushrooms, 5 bellflower roots, 1 cucumber, 2 carrots, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp. chopped pine nuts, 1/2 tbsp. sesame salt, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tbsp. chopped green onion, 1 tbsp. chopped garlic, 1/2 tbsp. sugar, black pepper, red radish, 2 tbsp. soy sauce

Method:
1. To make the pressed meat: Boil the beef or the pork. Wrap the boiled meat in a cloth and press it with a heavy weight. When the meat is cooled, slice it into strips 2 1/3" long and 1/4" thick.
2. Soak the dried mushrooms in water and remove the stems. Slice them into 2 1/3" lengths.
3. Shred the bellflower roots into strips 1/4" thick. Cut the carrot into strips 2 1/3" long and 1/4" thick. Scald them in boiling water.
4. Choose a thin, tender cucumber and cut it into strips 2 1/3" long and 1/4" thick. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Separate the white and yolks of eggs and beat gently. Mix the beaten egg whites, and also the yolks with 1 tbsp. cornstarch flour, 1 tbsp. water and salt each. Fry these mixtures in a square pan in thick sheets and let them cool. Cut the egg sheets and let them cool. Cut the egg sheets into strips 2 1/3" long.
6. Season all the ingredients except the egg strips with the soy sauce, sesame salt, black pepper, sesame oil, green onion and chopped garlic and fry lightly.
7. String the ingredients on skewers alternating the colors. Sprinkle the top with powdered pine nuts on a plate. Garnish with red radish and parsley.

Hint: Bellflower root is a tasty addition to this dish. It is an alkaline food containing sugar, fiber, calcium and iron.