Salted Bracken Fern Salad

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make salted bracken fern salad? Gather your ingredients. The salad itself comes together quickly, but the star ingredient — the salted bracken — needs some prep ahead of time. Whether you salted it yourself or bought it salted, it has to be soaked. Don't even think about skipping that step: the salt level is sky-high, bitter even. The dried soy asparagus also needs advance prep, which I'll cover in step 4.

2. Step 2:

   

   Put the salted bracken in a roomy bowl and cover it completely with cold tap water. Soak for 4–6 hours, rinsing the fern and changing the water now and then. Taste it as you go — 4 hours was enough to bring the salt down to where I liked it. I soaked it overnight and cooked in the morning: I drained it, rinsed it, let it drip dry, then covered the bowl with plastic wrap and kept it in the fridge.

3. Step 3:

   

   Start by washing and cutting the vegetables. Grate the carrot on a julienne (Korean-style) grater. Cut the onion into quarters, not too thin so it doesn't scorch. Cut the bell pepper into strips and the bracken into roughly 1½–2 inch (4–5 cm) pieces. Peel and rinse the garlic, leaving the cloves whole for now, but keep a press handy. Rinse and finely chop the herbs.

4. Step 4:

   

   Everything cooks fast, so have all your ingredients portioned out in separate bowls ahead of time. I'm adding soy asparagus (dried bean curd sticks) to the salad — it's not in the group photo because it was still being prepped. Soak the dried asparagus for 2–3 hours, rinse, and cut it like the fern. Then simmer it in boiling water over low heat for 5–6 minutes. Rinse with cold water and let it drain well, since everything gets stir-fried.

5. Step 5:

   

   Only once every ingredient is prepped should you start the stir-fry. Heat a skillet and pour in 3 tablespoons of refined vegetable oil. Over medium heat, sauté the onion until translucent, stirring so it doesn't stick.

6. Step 6:

   

   As soon as the onion starts to turn golden, add the carrot and let it soften for a minute or two.

7. Step 7:

   

   Next add the bell pepper, stir, and sprinkle in the Korean carrot seasoning. Add a little more oil if you need to — the vegetables shouldn't go dry.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the bracken. Press in the garlic and stir to combine.

9. Step 9:

   

   Add the soy asparagus last. Stirring, warm everything through for another couple of minutes. Taste, and if you like, add a little hot pepper and salt as needed. I'd nailed the soaking on the fern, so I didn't need any extra salt.

10. Step 10:

    

    Transfer everything from the hot skillet to a deep salad bowl. As the vegetables cool, sprinkle on the fresh herbs and stir.

11. Step 11:

    

    Dress with the soy sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like. Serve it chilled — the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets. Up to 2 days is reasonable if you're making it ahead for an event. At my house it usually disappears right away, so I only let it rest 2–3 hours.

12. Step 12:

    

    Serve it on its own or as a side to potatoes, pasta, meat, or fish.