Korean Spicy Chayote Squash Muchim

 
While I was slicing the chayote preparing for my Stir-Fried Chicken Breast with Chayote,  I remembered that it can be eaten raw.  So, I took a piece and tried it and immediately fell in love.  It was really good when eaten raw.  Hence, I was figuring out what to make of it and I thought that it would go well with Korean muchim preparation and serve as a banchan/side dish.  I saved half of the chayote for experiment, therefore my recipe only had half chayote.  It turned out delicious as the refreshing and crisp chayote made such a good banchan.  I thought I might be the first one to thought of this as I really thought of this combination while slicing the chayote for another dish.  So later, I did a search on Google and I found out that other actually made this before, as I saw a picture of this dish being served in a Korean restaurant (no recipe though).  What a surprise, as I figure chayote is not common in south Korea and seriously thought that I invented a new Korean recipe, but realized that Korean American would probably know of this.  Please tell me if this is common in Korea?  Or just an adaptation dish for Korean American?

I am sharing my spicy chayote banchan recipe with you and strongly recommend you to try it.  It's going to be my regular banchan now.  Chayote can be bought at Asian and Hispanic supermarkets.  It has become my regular buy at the Asian market now, I just love it!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 chayote squash, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. mirin
• 1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped scallion (the green part)

Method:

Put all ingredients in a bowl.  Stir to mix well.  Keep in air-tight container and keep in the refrigerator until ready to eat.  Should be able to keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

For 1 chayote, I would double the salt, chili powder and mirin.  You can adjust to taste.