Spinach and Soybean Tapa

THE FOOD

Spinach and Soybean Tapa

We fell in love with a similar version of this that we found on Pinterest called Spinach and Chickpeas, but we needed to change a few things to make it fly in our Korean fusion kitchen.

Interestingly though, we never wanted to like this recipe.  It just kind of seemed, well, uninteresting and not very pretty in pictures.  We chose it simply for its ingredients and thought to ourselves, "How bad can it be?"

But here is the thing, this Spinach and Soybean Tapa is completely awesome.  It's a dip, so it goes well with all sorts of things: piled on a breakfast brioche, with pita chips, wrapped up with Korean Soybean Hummus, or - to be honest - eaten with a big, old spoon right out of the bowl.  We couldn't stop eating this.  It was great hot or cold.

THE QUANDARIES

Soybeans: We've been having a lot of success swapping out dried soy beans for dried chick peas, and with this recipe we took it to another level.

Old Bread: We also like this recipe because it uses up old bread so feel free to use any old bread that you have around the house.  We've even made it with old brioche which we thought might be a bit sweet, but tasted delightful.

Local Oil: In addition, we took out the olive oil and used pine nut oil since nothing needed to be cooked that long.

THE SOLUTION

1 cup of dried soy beans

6-8 tablespoons pine nut oil

3 cups cooked spinach

2 slices of this bread or 3 slices of thin bread (cubed with crust)

1 cup small tomatoes cut in half  (1/2 can of tomatoes)

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon Korean red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoon Korean pear wine (or whatever wine you have on hand)

Salt and pepper to taste

First, you need to prepare the soy beans.  Put the cup of dried beans into a bowl of cool water and let them soak for a few hours, or until the look like beans again.  Put into a pot of water and let them come to a boil, then turn them down and let them simmer for 45 minutes.  After they have finished cooking their shells start to come off, you might want to remove those shells for looks.

Second, heat up 2-3 tables spoons hot oil and toss in garlic for a few second, then toss in cubed bread, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, wine and a little salt.  Let everything blend together well but don't let it dry out.  Once everything is soft and blended put the ingredients into a bowl and mash up together until it is a paste (doesn't that sound sexy and delicious? not).   You can use a food processor if you want, but you don't NEED one.  A potato masher works just fine.  Remember, this is a country recipe from Spain so it should be hearty and not too refined.

Third, cook up the spinach in a big sauté pan/frying pay/wok with 2-3 tablespoons of oil.  Don't make it too soggy.  You just want it to be evenly limp but not mushy.  The spinach needs structure, but shouldn't taste raw.  We recommend that you stand there are just regularly turn the leaves so it all cooks nice and even.

Fourth, mix everything up together in a big bowl.  This is a dip, so if your spinach is too clumpy, use your kitchen scissors to cut it up into a more scoopable state of mind.  Now, get a spoon/fork/chopsticks and eat it all up.

Cooking Note:  This recipe can be changed a lot and still taste delicious.  Feel free to add less or more depending on what you like.  We often tend to add a lot more spinach and go lighter on the soybeans, just because our dight is already REALLY soy rich.  However, if we lived in a country where soy wasn't as popular we would go heavier on the beans.

Finally, if you have leftovers (which can be hard to accomplish since this is delicious) we recommend eating this tapa with breakfast.  It is amazing with bread and runny eggs.  Like, wayyyy amazing.