Korean Perilla Pesto
By: Tammy Quackenbush
Published: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - 10:19pm

Ingredients




1 pack of fresh sesame leaves, approximately 25 to 30 leaves.
1/2 cup of pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan until slightly brown
2 tablespoons minced garlic,
3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil—the best you can afford
1/2 teaspoon of salt,
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

1 Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend everything until it is a smooth paste. 2 Toss it in a bowl with some freshly cooked pasta of your choice and serve, garnishing with some leftover pine nuts.

About


The main ingredient of our recipe is called the Perilla leaf . The Korean word for this leaf is kkaenip (깻닢). The Japanese call it shiso, and that term has become more well known in America as well. Some books mis-translate it as “sesame leaf” but it bears no direct relation to sesame at all. 
It is an herb in the mint family, somewhat related to basil. Most Koreans either make it into kimchi or they eat it raw and wrap it around rice for a tasty snack. Every time I go to the Korean grocery store, I noticed these leaves there so I decided to come up with a Koreafornia spin on them. The best idea I came up with was to make them into a pesto. 
If you want to watch me making the pesto, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-OKtP3PnJI . For some "behind the scenes" commentary, go to http://koreanforniancooking.blogspot.com/2009/09/behind-scenes-kkaenip-pesto.html .

Comments:
Dyna Chrome

Vegetarian recipes only for yer submissions?
No kimchi pizza?   wah!
:)
Stephanie Weaver

I made this in a very similar manner, only I added white pepper, the zest of one lemon, and 1 T. lemon juice. I used less oil (1/2 C.) and 2 C. roughly chopped leaves. Delicious!