Koreans have their own version of shish kebabs. The dish is called sanjeok and is a delicious alternative to regular steak or regular beef shish kebabs.

There are a lot of sanjeok variations. Some versions include cylindrical rice cakes (ddeok/떡). Others include asparagus, carrots, crab meat and/or zucchini. You can also dip sanjeok in egg and flour and fry it instead of grilling it.

This is one of the more basic versions of sanjeok — just beef, green onions/scallions and mushrooms, all grilled on a grill. Here’s the recipe:

Sanjeok (Beef And Vegetable Shish Kebabs) — 산적

Ingredients

• 1 lb. beef
• 1 bunch green onions or 6 scallion stalks
• 24 shiitake mushrooms or 1-2 large portobello mushroom caps, sliced
• 30 bamboo skewers

For meat marinade:

• 1 c. soy sauce*
• 5 Tbsp. rice wine (Mirin)
• 5 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. sake or sherry
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. ginger juice**

*To make this recipe gluten free, I used San-J Organic Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (available at Whole Foods or for $6.69 + shipping on Amazon.com.)

**You can make ginger juice by grating fresh ginger and then squeezing the grated ginger through cheesecloth.

Steps

• Cut beef into strips about the size of a thick french fry (1/4″ x 1/2″ x 2″).
• Cut green onions/scallions/mushrooms as close to the same size as possible.
• Place beef and meat marinade in a bowl and set mixture aside for 15 minutes.
• Thread beef and vegetables onto skewers, alternating ingredients.
• Broil skewers over gas or charcoal grill.

[Recipe from “Korean Cooking”, an out-of-print cookbook created by the Korean Institute of Minnesota.]