3 Tasty Korean Side Dishes Made with Multi-Purpose Soy Sauce

It is always thrilling to see a load of side dishes on my Korean meal table.  More choices? Double the pleasure! That is for sure to everyone who likes to enjoy Korean meal.

However, making several side dishes for just one meal can be time consuming. Here are 3 tasty Korean side dishes recipes that can be prepared within 5-10 minutes from start to finish per each. They all use the same sauce, Mr. Baek’s multi-pupose soy sauce, that I mentioned in my previous post. It creates three different flavors; easy braised tofu, steamed Perilla leaves, and stir-fried mung bean sprouts.

So here are what you can do with this sauce. I won’t make the printable recipes for these dishes. They are not the rocket science recipe that you have to follow the exact amount on each ingredient. Just use however much amount your heart tells you. They will turn our just fine. I will give you the instructions and you can easily follow along.

For the easy braised tofu; You will need…

• 1 block tofu (about 1 lb)
• 1 tablespoon of Korean chili flakes
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 chopped green onion
• 3-4 tablespoons multi-purpose soy sauce
• 4 tablespoon water

Slice tofu and place them in a pan. Sprinkle Korean chili flakes and minced garlic. Add green onions and multi purpose soy sauce. Add water and bring to a gentle boil first. Then simmer over low heat for 3-5 minutes covered with a lid. Moisten the tofu with the pan juice.

Serve the tofu with rice. I can have a bowl of rice with just this quick braised tofu dish. Simply good~!

For the steamed Perilla leaves;

• 1 tablespoon multi-purpose soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Korean soy sauce for soup
• 1 tablespoon Korean chili flakes
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 chopped green onion
• 2-3 tablespoons water

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Just spread a tiny amount of sauce over every 2-3 Perilla leaves. (I used about 40-45 leaves for this recipe) Don’t try to cover entire leaf.  Add water to the sauce bowl and pour over the leaves. Cover and microwave for 2 minutes. Done!

This steamed Perilla leaves can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Now my favorite, the stir-fried mung bean sprouts~!

• 2 chopped green onion
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• two big handfuls of mung bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons multi-purpose sauce

Stir-fry chopped green onion and garlic in a little amount of oil for 30 seconds. Add mung bean sprouts and the multi-purpose sauce. Stir-fry quickly over high heat for 30-60 seconds. You want to keep the sprouts crisp yet heated with the flavor. Serve immediately. I don’t think you will find any better tasting stir-fried mung bean sprouts than this.

One sauce to make three dishes! Don’t you want to try them all?

~ Holly