Sundae Bokkeum (Stir-Fried Korean Blood Sausage)

We picked up some blood sausage at a Korean supermarket in Toronto last week. Initially I was thinking of using it in place of the ground chicken in the tteobokki recipe I was planning on making. But at the last minute, I decided to look up some serving suggestions and decided to go with this stir-fry instead.

Sundae Bokkeum

Slightly adapted from Maangchi

Ingredients

Stir-Fry

• 85g flat starch noodles¹, soaked in cold water for an hour
• 500g frozen sundae (Korean blood sausage)
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 125g cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green finger chile, sliced
• 1-2 green onions, sliced
• 8-10 large perilla leaves³, half chopped, half chiffonaded
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds, ground

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce²
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3/4 c. water

Directions

1. Set your noodles to soak.
2. Thaw the sausage (in its package) and bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Place the sausage, still in its sealed package, into the boiling water, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove sausage from water and set aside to cool.
5. Meanwhile, combine the gochugaru, gochujang, corn syrup, soy sauce, and pepper for the sauce.
6. Gradually mix in the water. Set aside.
7. Drain the noodles, cut in half, and set aside.
8. Once the sausage is cool enough to handle, remove from package and carefully cut into discs ~1cm thick.
9. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
10. Add the garlic and stir-fry until just beginning to crisp (~1 minute).
11. Add the cabbage and stir-fry for 1 minute.
12. Add the onion, green onion, and green chile and stir-fry for 2 more minutes.
13. Add the sauce, noodles, and chopped perilla leaves and cook until noodles become transparent (1-2 minutes).
14. Add the sausage and reduce heat to medium.
15. Gently stir to coat with sauce being careful not to break up the sausage slices.
16. Top with perilla chiffonade and ground sesame and serve.
17. Preferably serve with kimchi and/or other vegetable side dishes.

---

¹ I didn't have any appropriate noodles, so I just omitted them. We did end up cooking up a little rice to serve with the stir-fry and tteobokki though. ^Back
2 I used a mix of light and dark soy, but I think either would be fine here. ^Back
3 I didn't have any perilla, so I added a little bit of dried tarragon and some dried basil to the stir-fry. Not the same, of course, but it did at least add another layer of flavour. If I'd had any Thai basil, I probably would have tried adding a bit of that either as well or instead. ^Back

Dothraki Blood Pie

I'm a big fan of black pudding. And white pudding. And pretty much anything you'd find in a full Irish breakfast. But especially black pudding. I'm also generally a fan of pistachios, leeks, and chèvre. So, when I saw a Game of Thrones-inspired pie that involved all of these things, I was intrigued.

Dothraki Blood Pie
Adapted from C&C Cakery
1/2 c. pistachios, ground
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. chickpea flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
1/4 c. cold water
2 leeks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 large eggs
2/3 c. heavy cream
140g chèvre
225g black pudding, chopped

1. Combine pistachios, whole wheat flour, chickpea four, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture has a uniform, crumbly texture.
2. Stir in egg. Add cold water 1 Tbsp. at a time until dough comes together into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, sauté the leeks and garlic in the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter. Add thyme, rosemary, and pepper.
4. Once the dough has chilled, unwrap and roll out to ~1/4" thickness and line a pie plate (or in my case a square cake pan) with it. Prick the bottom with a fork and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.
5. Once the crust is baked, beat eggs until light and fluffy, then gradually add the cream.
6. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to the egg mixture and crumble in the chèvre.
7. Place the sautéed leeks in the bottom of the pie crust and top with chopped black pudding. Pour egg mixture over this and then bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

TF really liked this pie (and so did the froglet)! He generally finds black pudding too heavy and intense to eat much of it in a sitting, so he found the blood pie to be a great way to enjoy it. For my part, it was okay... but I felt like it could've used some work.

I was initially intrigued by the unique crust recipe. However, I found the dough to be fairly difficult to handle and I didn't think it actually complemented the filling that well. I actually think that a traditional pie crust, puff pastry, or a whole wheat crust (without the chickpea flour pistachios) would've worked better here.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the layering effect with the leeks and black pudding staying quite separate. If I made this again, I'd actually combine the leeks and pudding (and maybe try mixing in the cheese once the mixture had cooled as well).

I had an extra leek and it was starting to look a little sad, so I decided to throw it in. I liked the extra leek and still felt that there was enough pudding and cheese to go with it; the egg was a little lacking though. I think I'd like to try adding an extra egg next time. I know the egg isn't really meant to be centre stage here, it's just there to hold everything else together and give it some cohesion, but I still think I would've liked a bit more of it.

It's certainly an interesting recipe, and I'm glad that I tried it. That said, I wasn't overly impressed with it. I'll definitely try to tweak it if I make it again. However, unless TF specifically requests it, I doubt I'll be revisiting this one.