Korean Banchan: Stir Fried Zucchini

So this weekend, I went to my aunt's house for Korean thanksgiving. I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do on Korean thanksgiving except get together and eat, so that's what we did. =) My aunt also gave me a bag full of freshly picked lettuce, a huge zucchini and another bag of eggplants that one of her patients harvested from his garden. Sweet! I'm always happy to receive free produce and you would think, it would save me from going to the grocery store, but no ... I still went to two separate Korean market this weekend to stock up on other things.

I will tell you one thing though, I've never seen them sell a zucchini like this at the Korean market. It looked a bit freakish, like a gourd, but my aunt said it was good stir-fried, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Look at how big this thing is. It's almost the size of my cutting board. First, I sliced the zucchini into thin slices. I cut the larger pieces in half and sometimes in quarters.

I think in an ideal world, I would have a hugmongo wok at home with a gas flame and it would fry up this baby in no time, but I don't so I must be more patient and more methodical. I oil the pan and brown both sides of the zucchini and then put them in a separate pot. Ooh, just realized that this would be super tasty if it was grilled too. I don't have a grill, but if I ever get one, I shall try it.

Don't forget to season with salt at this point. I always forget to do that. It makes it more tasty.

Since I had so much zucchini, I decided to make 2 batches and use slightly different seasoning.

Stir-Fried Zucchini with Soy Sauce

Ingredients

half of a gigantic zucchini

1 tablespoon of salted shrimp

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of garlic

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons of water

chopped green onion

So to my pan of brown zucchini, I add the soy sauce, salt, garlic and red pepper flakes and let it simmer together. Usually when I make this with the Korean zucchini, there are more juices that come out from the zucchini once you cook it, but since this zucchini didn't have as much water content, I added 2 tablespoons of water to it.

Here's what it looked like once cooked. Sprinkle on some green onions and it's ready.

Now for the second variation ...

Stir-Fried Zucchini with Salted Shrimp

Ingredients

the other half of the gigantic zucchini

1 tablespoon of salted shrimp

1 teaspoon of garlic

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons of water

chopped green onion

Here's what my salted shrimp looks like. I am sure you can buy these at any Korean grocery store, that's where I got mine.

You add all the ingredients and let it all simmer.
Once the zucchinis have cooked through, you get this.

Here's a pic of the two dishes side by side. The one with soy sauce is on the left and the salted shrimp on the right. You pretty much use the same ingredients except you replace the soy sauce with salted shrimp, but the flavors are uniquely different. The soy sauce definitely brings out the sweetness of the zucchini a bit more and the salted shrimp definitely takes center stage in the second dish, but it's not overpowering. They are equally tasty. Try it for yourself!