Sweet and Spicy Kkomak Muchim (Seasoned Cockles)
A winter delicacy side dish of properly boiled purged cockles topped with a sweet and spicy soy sauce dressing.
Translated from Korean by AI and not yet checked by a native speaker. Amounts and numbers are taken directly from the original recipe. Read the Korean original →
This side dish features plump, in-season blood cockles boiled just right to preserve their chewy texture. Using the cooking liquid adds savory depth, and topping them with a special soy sauce seasoning makes them wonderful as a side dish or drinking snack.
- Servings
- 3–4 servings
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spiciness
- Mildly spicy
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Blood cockles1 kg
- Large green onion (daepa)
- Red chili pepper1
- Cheongyang chili pepper (hot green chili)1
- Water5 cups (for purging)
- Coarse sea salt2 tbsp (for purging)
Seasoning
- Regular soy sauce (jin-ganjang) (or brewed soy sauce (yangjo-ganjang))3 tbsp
- Soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)1 tbsp
- Gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)2 tbsp
- Minced garlic1 tbsp
- Mirin (cooking rice wine)1 tbsp
- Corn syrup (mulyeot) (or green plum syrup (maesil-cheong))1 tbsp
- Toasted sesame oil1 tbsp
- Toasted sesame seeds1 tbsp
- Water from boiling cockles1–2 tbsp
- You can skip the chili peppers and simply use more large green onion.
- Cover with opaque newspaper or a lid to keep it dark, then let sit in a cool place for 2 hours.
Steps
Prepare the ingredients
Here is 1 pack of blood cockles, 1kg.
These are the large green onion, Cheongyang chili pepper, and red chili pepper for the sauce. You can skip the peppers and simply use more large green onion.
Make the cockle seasoning sauce
Finely chop both the large green onion and the chili peppers.
Add all seasoning ingredients and mix together.
If it feels too thick, adjust the consistency by stirring in one or two tbsp of the clear surface liquid from boiling the cockles.
This sauce can also be used as wild chive sauce (dallae-jang).
How to purge cockles
Because cockles live in mudflats, you must purge them thoroughly to enjoy them delicious and free of grit.
Dissolve 2 tbsp of coarse sea salt into 5 cups of water, enough to submerge the cockles. Discard any cracked cockles and place the rest in the salt water...
Cover with opaque newspaper or a lid to keep it dark, then let sit in a cool place for 2 hours.
Recreating a seawater environment encourages the cockles to breathe and spit out the mud and grit inside them.
When you open the lid later, many will have opened their shells and the water, which was clear at first, will be quite cloudy from purging.
Rub them with both hands or roll them around, rinsing with fresh changes of water so that the debris stuck to the shells comes off.
Repeat 10 times or more until no more debris comes out.
How to boil cockles
Pour in enough water to submerge the cockles, add 1 tbsp of salt, bring to high heat, and stir occasionally in one direction with a spoon.
Once it reaches a full rolling boil and the cockles begin opening one by one, stir gently and boil for under 1 minute.
If you boil them too long, the cockle meat turns tough and loses all its juices.
Drain the boiled cockles in a strainer and set the cooking liquid aside undisturbed so the mud settles to the bottom.
Use one or two tbsp of the clear surface liquid for the cockle seasoning sauce, and use the rest to rinse the cockles.
Open the shells. For those that do not open easily, place a spoon into the hinge groove at the back of the cockle and twist to open them with ease.
Pour the cockle cooking water over the shelled cockles...
Swish them around one by one so shell fragments and clinging mud fall away.
Using the cockle cooking liquid instead of plain water preserves all their rich flavor without washing it away.
Add the seasoning
Spread the cockles onto a plate and spoon a little seasoning sauce over each one.
Finish
The cockle meat is plump, and the sauce is delicious without being too salty.
This batch of sauce turns out to be just the right amount, with none lacking and none left over.
It is also fun to pick out and eat the chewy cockle meat one by one like this.
Mix cockle meat and the seasoning sauce with finely chopped garlic chives or water dropwort, and you have cockle bibimbap.
Wrapped in gopchang-gim seaweed, a bowl of bibimbap disappears in no time.
Ppunwife's tips
- If you boil them too long, the cockle meat turns tough and loses all its juices.
- For cockles that do not open easily, place a spoon into the hinge groove at the back and twist to open them with ease.
- Using the cockle cooking liquid instead of plain water preserves all their rich flavor without washing it away.
FAQ
How long should cockles be boiled?
Once the water reaches a rolling boil and the cockles start opening one by one, stir them and boil briefly for about 1 minute so the juices do not drain out and the meat does not turn tough.
How do you open cockles that have not opened their shells?
Place a spoon into the groove at the back hinge of the cockle and twist gently to pop the shell open easily.
Why rinse boiled cockles in their cooking liquid instead of plain water?
Swishing and rinsing them in the settled cooking liquid keeps the cockles' natural savory flavor and richness completely intact without washing it away.
What can I substitute if I do not have chili peppers for the sauce?
If you do not have Cheongyang chili peppers or red chili peppers, you can omit the chilies and simply increase the amount of large green onion in the sauce.
