Recipe

Korean Perilla Pesto

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Photo by Tamar

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Tamar's Notes: The main ingredient of our recipe is called the Pernilla leaf . The Korean word for this leaf is kkaenip. The Japanese call it shiso, and that term has become more well known in America as...
The main ingredient of our recipe is called the Pernilla leaf . The Korean word for this leaf is kkaenip. The Japanese call it shiso, and that term has become more well known in America as well. Some books mistranslate 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. As I was searching for potential kkaenip leaf pesto competition, I discovered that blogger Joe McPherson at zenkimchi.com posted a version of this recipe on his blog back in January 2008.

This is proof that I am not the only Westerner who loves Korean food and enjoys trying to come up with ways of making non-Korean foods into Korean style masterpieces and vice versa.

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Serves 8

25-30 Perilla (shiso) leaves Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup toasted pinenuts Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons minced garlic Ask a question about this ingredient

3/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil (the best you can afford) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 teaspoon salt Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 teaspoon black pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

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

Binte's Kitchen added about 1 year ago

this looks incredible!! love it!

Tamar added over 2 years ago

How does this pesto taste? One of my husband’s coworkers said that it’s "kind of earthy and herbaceous. I like it. It has lots of garlic, which I like."