{"id":6658,"date":"2016-03-17T18:36:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T01:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/?p=6658"},"modified":"2022-03-10T12:49:23","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T20:49:23","slug":"doenjang-jjigae-korean-soybean-paste-stew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/doenjang-jjigae-korean-soybean-paste-stew\/","title":{"rendered":"Doenjang Jjigae – Korean Soybean Paste Stew"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Korean
Korean Soybean Paste Stew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doenjang Jjigae..I have not yet blogged about this fantastic Korean stew and this is why. It was not on my list of recipes when I first started my Kimchimari Korean food blog because I thought the dish was just too smelly to cook in my daughter’s dorm. Cooking in dorms…that reminds me of my grad school dorm days – 6 students (somehow all Asians) with their own rooms shared a common bathroom and the kitchen. But because kitchen was across the hallway, many times the students made food in their own room with some type of cooking element. I am quite sensitive to smells (people made fun of me when I was little that I had a dog nose) and one of the memories that stand out to me was the all the different food smells I had to endure while I was in the dorm. That’s the first time I realized how offensive one person’s food smell could be to others who are not familiar with it.<\/p>\n

It would be so lovely if everyone could love the smell of Doenjang Jjigae much like the smell of pizza or apple pie, but sadly it has a very unique odor that is pretty strong. Doenjang Jjigae is such a comfort food for Koreans that I think most Koreans love the smell. And it brings all sorts of pleasant memories to us, a smell that tells you that you are almost home …with each Doenjang Jjigae smell having a different signature as unique as the people cooking them. Some Koreans make a simple Doenjang Jjigae without any meat but just vegetables and tofu,  some make it with a fatty beef cut like chadolbaegi (second cut of brisket) and some make it with lots of seafood like clams and shrimp. <\/p>\n

Now doenjang comes in a whole spectrum of different  colors, going from the lighter brown color to the very dark, almost black color. The older the doenjang, the darker the color will be. Anyway, more on how to make and how to buy doenjang in my next “Know your Doenjang” post.<\/p>\n

So my Doenjang Jjigae recipe has evolved over the years. When I first started making it as a newlywed, I made it with onions and white mushrooms and thought it was pretty good. Because, for some reason, this was not a dish that we made often at home when I was growing up or maybe I just don’t have a good recollection of it. So I learned it from the local Korean restaurants in Florida. Restaurants always add onions and mushrooms and tofu. The jjigae was kind of sweet and mushroomy which I thought was OK…<\/p>\n

But then when I had my mother-in-law’s Doenjang Jjigae, the depth of flavor was just incomparable. I could taste the doenjang much more and not so much of the other ingredients. And that’s when I learned that you should NOT add onions<\/strong> to Doenjang Jjigae if you want to keep the aroma and flavor of doenjang. Strong flavored mushrooms also do the same thing. They often overpower the doenjang. Mild mushrooms like oyster or king mushrooms are fine. But if you like a sweeter and smoother tasting jjigae, you might like to add onions. And finally, I use rice water (water obtained from rinsing rice) for the base of the broth. The rice water makes the broth more smooth tasting and also keeps the doenjang from separating from the broth.<\/p>\n

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we??<\/p>\n

Servings: 2-3           Prep: 10 min      Cooking: 25 min           Difficulty: Easy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/span><\/h4>\n