Kim Sa Rang, a former Miss Korea and fairly popular actress recently appeared on a Korean reality TV show “I live alone”. The show highlights the casual daily lives of famous people who live alone (hence the name of the show!). She went on to rock the Korean food world when it showed her hosting a small dinner party for a few close friends. The highlight of the night was a simple avocado mash with salted pollack roe (myeongnan-jeot in Korean or mentaiko in Japanese). **Side note: salted pollack roe is not a familiar ingredient to the Western world and maybe not even be to many Korean-Americans but it’s used not infrequently in Korea and is very easy to find here in the states at a Korean super market! It’s a bit salty and is often eaten as a side dish or added into a variety of dishes to add a touch of the unique salty flavor.
Back to the avocado mash, the internet went crazy for it the day after it aired! So, curiosity hit and I wanted to try it! And, I did. It was good. But, not the raving sensation that I expected. The avocado mash consists of a little bit of mayonnaise and cream cheese to make the avocado a creamier and the salted pollack roe added to the mash gives a nice salty bite. This dish probably felt more new to Koreans who are not as exposed to avocado but for me, it wasn’t too much different than all the other avocado dishes so widely available! I think it also helped that she’s a pretty and slightly mysterious actress that made a very rare entertainment TV appearance. Like, if I eat this avocado mash will I look like her and live her glamorous life?!
To sum it up, Koreans like to mix avocados with warm rice similar to the Korean dish, bibimbap, but we enjoyed it with homemade crackers! Nonetheless, it was yummy though I think I prefer guacamole more with crackers and Kim Sa Rang’s avocado mash with warm rice for a simple meal. Really simple! I’ll probably mash this together again on a lazy but healthy-feeling afternoon. Enjoy!
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3-4 people as an appetizer
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Ingredients
- 3 avocados
- 1 Tbsp cream cheese
- 1 tsp mayonnaise
- 1 salted pollack roe for the avocado mash
- 1/3 salted pollack roe for garnish
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Cut the avocados in half. Scoop out the avocados into a bowl. Add in the cream cheese and mayonnaise.
- Take both salted pollacks and slit in half longways to the end. Open the inside and scrape out the roe only. Discard of the outside skin. Add in roe of 1 salted pollack into the avocado bowl.
- Mash the avocado and mix with all ingredients.
- If you want to be like Kim Sa Rang, then place the avocado into 3-4 pretty bowls and garnish with the additional salted pollack.
- Serve with warm rice or with crackers. Could be delicious on toast too!
Recipe Notes
**Salted pollack roe can usually be found in Korean grocery stores. They will either be in the side-dish and kimchi section and/or in the frozen food section. Don't be afraid to venture out into new ingredients!
I just watched this episode and I was looking up online on how to make it. I am so thankful it lead me to your website!! There are so many recipes I would want to try from here~~~~ Love your website!!
Hope you enjoy!! 🙂
Yumm! My husband and I love pollack roe and this dish!! So nice to see you have the recipe here^^
I hope I can find the roe here at my local Korean grocer…
Hope you enjoy! Sometimes the roe is in the banchan section and the freezer section. I like to get the frozen ones and defrost a bit before using since they keep longer then!