Spicy Watermelon Rind Banchan (수박 무침)

Here is a simple summer banchan (반찬 - side dish) made with the watermelon rind, the part that's usually ignored and discarded. This is a common home banchan in Korea called subak muchim (수박 무침 - lightly-seasoned watermelon). I've made this before, but not too often. There is something about scooping out all the red flesh out of the watermelon, filling up myself with the sweet, cooling watermelon, then getting back to work to scrape off remaining red flesh and working with the rind when I should be just cleaning up and calling it a day.

Then as is usually the case, this obvious simplicity hit me one day that it doesn't have to feel like I'm doubling up the work. It could be just one smooth process of removing the layers in order, from taking off the outside skin to be discarded, peeling off the rind to be reserved for a side dish, then cutting up the red flesh for immediate consumption (or refrigerate for later).

The white rind of the watermelon works like radish, crunchy and cooling with a hint of sweetness from the watermelon. After peeling off the rind, most laborious work is done. Cut the big chunks of the rind to slices or matchsticks and let them rest for half an hour with coarse sea salt mixed in. You'll see the watermelon juice extracted out, making the rind tighter and crunchier. Drain, wash off the salt completely, and squeeze out any remaining water as much as you can, then it's ready to be dressed with seasoning. Mix with gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste) at its simplest preparation. It makes a punchy-crunchy garnish for your summer noodle dishes as well as for your salad.

Since the size of the watermelon and the amount of the rind that comes along with it vary, consider the below recipe as a starting guide to make your watermelon rind banchan.

Not too bad of a use for a part that's always been there but mostly ignored.

INGREDIENTS:
White rind from 1 watermelon (about 5 cups) --> You will end up with about 2 cups when complete.
2 T coarse sea salt
1t ~ 1T gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste)

Optional) grated garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar, toasted sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:
Cut the rind to thin strips.

Leave the white strips of the rind mixed in coarse sea salt for about 30 minutes, until much of the watermelon juice is extracted and it's become salty enough that you'd want it as a side dish with a bowl of rice, but not too salty that it would jolt your brain. The white strips should be soft enough that you can squeeze without breaking it.

Rinse in cold water to wash off the remaining salt. Repeat in new cold water 3-5 times. Then squeeze out water as much as you can.

Start seasoning by mixing in a teaspoon of gochujang. For those who want to taste more of a proper banchan and can spare 5 more minutes, mix in a teaspoon each of grated garlic, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Taste and adjust seasoning. Feel free to sprinkle sesame seeds for garnish.

Serve with rice as a side dish, add to your salad, or garnish your chilled noodle dish with this spicy watermelon rind banchan!

TIPS!

After cutting out all the rind, it may look like it's just too much. I stil suggest you use all of it, at least for your first batch, as the volume of the rind will shink to less than half the initial volume after salting and squeezing out excess water.

You can also use daikon or mu (무 - Korean radish) and follow this recipe. It may lack that obvious sweetness of watermelon, but you'll still get something pretty close in crunchy bites.

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