Gaji Muchim (Korean Eggplant Side Dish) 🍆 Easy & Healthy Grandma Recipe

Korean eggplant side dish 🍆 Gaji Muchim recipe: simple steamed eggplants seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and chili flakes — a healthy vegan Korean summer banchan.

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When I was a little girl, my mother always told me, “The best food is the simple food.”
And she was right. In the hot Korean summer, eggplants were always on our table.
Soft, gentle, easy to digest… they filled our stomach without making us heavy.

Now I am in my seventies, and I still keep this habit. I grow eggplants in my small garden. Even after the heavy summer rains, they survived. 👉 see my garden harvest here.

“Freshly harvested Korean eggplants from my summer garden 🌱 — nothing tastes better than homegrown.”

This dish is called Gaji Muchim (가지 무침). It is just seasoned steamed eggplant. Very simple. I make it for my children, and now also for my grandchildren.

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🌿 Part of My Korean Home Cooking Series

If you’ve been following my cooking, you know I’ve shared a few of my favorite recipes already:

• Sweet Potato Stem Kimchi 🌱 – a taste of resilience after the floods
• Makgeolli Steamed Bread 🍞 – fluffy, fermented bread without yeast
• Oi-ji & Oi-ji Muchim 🥒 – salty pickled cucumbers turned into a spicy salad

And today… it’s eggplant’s turn. 🍆

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👩‍🍳 Ingredients (for 3–4 people)

• 2 medium eggplants (about 400 g / 14 oz)
• 2 green onions (about 30 g / 1 oz), finely chopped
• 1 tbsp (15 g) minced garlic
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame oil
• 1 tbsp (8 g) Korean chili flakes (gochugaru) – add more if you like it spicy
• 1 tsp (5 g) sugar
• 1 tsp (5 g) toasted sesame seeds

“Eggplants washed and cut into long pieces — ready to be steamed for Gaji Muchim.”

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🥣 Instructions

1. Steam the Eggplants

• Wash them, cut into halves or quarters.
• Steam for 8–10 minutes until soft (in my day, we used a big steamer pot, but a rice cooker or Instant Pot works fine).
• Let cool slightly, then tear by hand into long strips — this keeps the natural texture.

“Steamed eggplants, gently torn into strips by hand for the best texture.”

2. Make the Seasoning

• In a bowl, mix soy sauce, garlic, sugar, sesame oil, chili flakes, and green onions.

“Seasoning the eggplant with soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and chili flakes.”

3. Mix Together

“Mixing everything by hand — the traditional way to make flavors soak in.”

• Gently toss the eggplants with the seasoning until coated.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds on top before serving.

👉 Eat it with a bowl of warm rice, just the way we did in the countryside.

“Finished Gaji Muchim — soft, savory, and full of Korean flavor.”

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💕 Why I Love This Dish

• Soft, gentle, and easy to digest — perfect for hot summer days
• Vegan & healthy, yet full of flavor
• Takes only 15 minutes to make
• A recipe passed down through generations of Korean kitchens

When I eat this, I remember the summers of my childhood.
My mother calling us in from the fields, setting the table with simple but strong food. Now I do the same for my family.

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🌸 From My Kitchen to Yours

I hope you try this dish in your home. It is not fancy, but it has warmth.
Just like the summer sun in Korea, it is natural and comforting.

👉 Next time, I will share another traditional side dish that gave us strength through the seasons. Please come back and read again.