59 recipes. Page 1 of 3
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
Toasting the rice in sesame oil first keeps its starch from rushing out all at once, and the porridge sticks to the pot less. The doenjang (Korean soybean paste) is pushed through a fine sieve into anchovy broth, and finely chopped napa cabbage and onion melt into the rice over 20-plus minutes at a low simmer.
This is the spicy monkfish soup Koreans go looking for the morning after, made at home. Monkfish flesh is soft and breaks apart easily, so once it is in the pot it barely gets stirred. If you can get the liver, adding it separately makes the broth deeper.
Gochujang toasts in rendered pork fat before any broth goes in, and that spicy red oil gives the stew more body than simply boiling everything together. Zucchini half-moons simmer for 6 minutes, enough to take on seasoning without collapsing into mush.
Salted tiny shrimp (saeujeot) season the eggs instead of salt, and anchovy stock gives them savory depth. Cooked slowly in an earthenware pot (ttukbaegi) over low heat with a gentle stir through the middle, it comes out soft and puffed, nothing like the glassy-smooth custard of Japanese chawanmushi.
Poaching chicken breast directly in the anchovy stock gives the clear broth of janchi guksu, Korea's party noodle soup, an extra savory layer. A little sesame oil tossed through the shredded chicken makes the lean breast meat taste moist, while separate yellow and white egg-crepe strips, zucchini, and carrot add color. The recipe scales up easily, making it practical for feeding a crowd.
Okara, the soy pulp left over from making tofu, gives this porridge a nutty, hearty body that lets half a cup of rice make a filling pot, and anchovy stock adds savory depth underneath. The pulp goes in only once the rice is half softened, which lets the grains break down without the okara simmering for too long. Freshly ground soaked soybeans, for anyone making their own pulp, taste noticeably beanier than store-bought.
Along Korea's west and south coasts, where mallow and clams are both easy to find, the two have long shared a pot of doenjang soup. The mallow is rubbed between the hands as it is washed, which gives the broth a little body, and the finished soup is usually eaten with rice stirred in.
In this budae jjigae, a spoonful of baked beans sits in the middle of the pot with the gochujang paste on top. As it boils the beans break down, thickening the broth a little and leaving a faint sweetness. The liquid underneath is anchovy stock, not plain water.
Jijim uses far less liquid than a stew, so by the end the dried radish greens (siraegi) are coated in a glossy doenjang (Korean soybean paste) sauce with almost no broth left. Stripping the tough outer fibers matters: skipped, the stems stay stringy however long they cook.
Bittersweet spring aralia shoots sit on top of a doenjang broth thickened by potato and zucchini. The dish belongs to early spring, the short window when the shoots are in season. Pressing the doenjang through a sieve with a ladle keeps lumps out and the broth clean. As the potato simmers it partly breaks down, giving the soup body and a mild sweetness that sits well with the fermented soybean paste, and chewy knife-cut noodles stand up to that density. The shoots are blanched on their own and added near the end, because long simmering dulls the very fragrance the dish is built around.
Bean sprouts simmer uncovered in anchovy stock for just 5 to 6 minutes, long enough to drive off their raw, grassy smell but short enough to keep them crunchy. This is the Jeonju style of kongnamul gukbap, a sprout soup poured over rice. An egg is slipped in whole rather than beaten, and it is ready when the white has set around a still-soft yolk. Seaweed flakes and a pinch of chili flakes go on top, and in Korea it is a common hangover meal.
Mallow leaves give this doenjang soup a slightly thick, silky broth, so it feels different in the mouth from a spinach or radish version. Koreans have grown mallow in home gardens and made this soup since the Joseon era, and fresh mallow is at its most tender in early summer.
Boiled radish greens and blanched loach simmer in anchovy stock seasoned with doenjang and gochujang, and three tablespoons of perilla seed powder at the end thicken it to something close to porridge. More radish greens push it toward bitter and chewy; more perilla powder makes it nuttier.
Dried radish greens (siraegi) stay chewy through the braise and soak up the gochujang and soy sauce, so here they are as good with rice as the hairtail itself. The greens are tossed with a little doenjang beforehand, which leaves a nutty, savory note under the braise.
One pot of spicy anchovy broth carries three rounds: thin beef and vegetables first, then kalguksu noodles, then fried rice scraped from the bottom. Beef slices go in one at a time, since a clump stays red in the middle. Each round leaves more flavor in the broth for the next. Stop the rice once a thin crust starts to form, before it scorches.
Doenjang (Korean soybean paste) is dissolved into anchovy stock, and the porridge tastes close to a bowl of doenjang soup. The rice is toasted in sesame oil before the stock goes in, and the spinach, blanched and chopped ahead, is stirred in just before the heat goes off and served while it is still bright green.
Everything in this napa cabbage doenjang soup is easy to find, and half a spoonful of gochujang gives the broth a reddish tint and a mild heat. Doenjang brands differ a lot in saltiness. The paste goes in light at first, and the pot is adjusted with more doenjang or water at the end.
In early spring, February to April, when wild chives are around, a handful goes on top of this clam and gochujang stew. Their sharp scent takes the edge off any fishiness from the clams.
Doenjang and ground perilla seeds turn dried radish greens into a soft, nutty side dish with just enough broth left to spoon up. Peeling off the stringy outer skin of the stems matters more than cooking time; left on, it stays tough however long the pot simmers.
Boneless mackerel means you can pour the doenjang broth straight over rice without picking out bones. Siraegi (dried radish greens) simmered until the stems are tender makes the broth deep and earthy, and the chili-seasoned fish gives it a little bite.
Cod carries very little fat, which keeps this broth clear and light. The fish rests briefly in rice wine before going into anchovy stock already sweetened by radish, and crown daisy (ssukgat) goes on top thirty seconds before the heat is cut, just long enough to wilt.
Tofu, kimchi, chili flakes, green onion and anchovy stock: that is the whole list, so the broth tastes mostly of however sour the kimchi has become.
Apple snails, diced zucchini, onion, and crumbled tofu are simmered with doenjang and gochujang into a chunky paste, then folded with warm rice into lettuce and perilla leaves. Unlike ureong doenjang jjigae, a soupy stew with the same snails, this version is reduced until a spoonful holds its shape for about five seconds and nothing drips from the leaf.
Zucchini, onion and tofu simmer in anchovy broth, and the shredded perilla leaves get only the last thirty seconds. Any longer and the leaves darken and their aroma goes dull. The tofu is scooped in with a spoon instead of cut, leaving rough surfaces for the broth to soak into.