doenjang

How to Make Korean Soybean Paste Soup (Doenjang Guk)

Korean Soybean Paste Soup (Doenjang Guk)

zucchini

mushrooms

Korean tofu ((8.8 ounces), medium firm, diced

anchovy stock ((Korean style dashi))

Tbsp Korean soybean paste ((Doenjang))

Korean chili paste ((Gochujang))

tsp minced garlic

Start boiling the dried kelp and dried anchovy stock (Korean style dashi) on high heat in a sauce pan. – It takes about 5 to 6 mins to rolling boil based on refrigerated stock. If you’re using freshly boiled stock, it takes 3 to 4 mins to rolling boil.

Soon after adding the stock into a sauce pan, sieve through the soup seasoning sauce so that it blends well with the stock. Once you sieve through, you will notice some large particles from the soybean paste in the sieve. I personally like having my soup clear, so I discard this. But if you like, you can add this back into the soup.

Once the broth starts to rolling boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the zucchini and the onion. Boil them for 2 to 3 mins.

Add the tofu and boil for a further 1 to 2 mins.

Add the shiitake mushroom and enoki mushrooms and boil for last the 1 to 2 mins.

Turn the heat off and serve.

Korean fusion pasta filled with mushrooms and bacon in a creamy umami filled sauce featuring doenjang.

Doenjang Cream Pasta (Korean Soy Bean Paste Pasta)

lb Fettucine

oz Oyster mushrooms

Bacon

Garlic

Heavy cream

tbsp Butter

1.5 tsp Doenjang (Korean soy bean paste)

Onion (Diced)

parmesan cheese

Radish sprouts

Pepper

Thinly slice mushrooms, garlic and bacon. Dice onion.

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Cook fettucine to al dente according to package instructions (about 8 minutes) and drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium high heat, add sliced bacon to pan. Cook for around 4 minutes until slightly crispy.

Add diced onion and mushroom to pan and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3-4 minutes.

Add garlic to pan and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add heavy cream and doenjang to pan. Stirring to melt the paste. Reduce heat to medium low allow to reduce slightly about 2 minutes.

Add pasta to sauce along with 1/4 cup pasta water. Toss to coat, adding up to 1/4 cup more pasta water if sauce is too dry.

Remove from heat and add parmesan cheese. Toss to coat.

Serve pasta topped with radish sprouts and pepper.

In this deeply comforting stew, the hardest part is washing and chopping the greens, which is to say, not very hard. Earthy-sweet Swiss chard, especially rainbow chard, tastes beautiful here, but coarsely chopped spinach, kale, mustard or radish greens, napa cabbage or broccoli rabe would be lovely, too. Canned cannellini beans, crushed lightly with a wooden spoon, thicken the gentle, savory broth. The key to this dish lies in how you layer each ingredient into the pot: The onion and scallions are first browned to start an umami-rich base; the Korean fermented soybean paste, doenjang (see Tip), is bloomed in oil to awaken its deep, salty funkiness; and then the honey is caramelized slightly for sweetness and floral complexity.
 
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Beans and Greens Stew With Doenjang

olive oil

onion,

scallions,

Salt and black pepper

honey

red-pepper flakes

cannellini beans,

soy sauce

garlic clove, finely grated

white rice,

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium and add 2 tablespoons oil, the onion and scallions. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the remaining tablespoon oil and the doenjang, and stir until heated through and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Move the onion mixture to one side of the pot, add the honey and red-pepper flakes to the empty side, and let the honey bubble and caramelize, about 1 minute.

Add the beans and stir to coat. Add the soy sauce and 2 cups water, raise the heat to high, and bring to a gentle boil, using the wooden spoon to crush some of the beans against the side of the pot to thicken the broth.

Stir in the chard, cover the pot and reduce heat to medium-low, simmering until the greens have cooked down and darkened in color, about 10 minutes.

Off the heat, stir in the grated garlic. Taste and add more salt, pepper and doenjang as desired. Serve in large bowls over or alongside rice.

Ssamjang is a condiment used to add the final flavor punch to the Korean Ssam or lettuce wrap. Korean ssam usually contains rice, a kind of protein(bulgogi, grilled pork belly, kkongchi jorim and more) wrapped in lettuce or any vegetable leaf that is big enough to make a wrap.

Ssamjang (Korean spicy dipping sauce)

Tbsp Korean soybean paste ((된장 Doenjang))

Tbsp Korean chili bean paste ((고추장 Gochujang))

mayonnaise

Tbsp extra firm tofu (crumbled, squeezed)

garlic

tsp green onions (chopped)

green chili peppers

tsp onion powder (or 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh onion)

sesame seeds

tsp sesame oil

maple syrup (or corn syrup)

green plum syrup

garlic (chopped (garlic powder is OK))

green chili peppers (chopped)

If adding tofu, squeeze out excess liquid from tofu with your hands or by using cheesecloth. You don&#39;t need to remove liquid completely but just lightly enough so that it&#39;s not dripping liquid.

Chop green onions, garlic, chili peppers.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, taste and adjust by adding more tofu if too salty.

Hello everybody! I know some of you have been waiting for my doenjang and ganjang recipes for a long time! Today I feel a real sense of achievement to release this recipe here. It&#039;s one of the recipes in my cookbook, and whether you have my book or not, this video and recipe should still be...

Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang)

water

salt

Hi Maanchi, What will happen if I soak my Meju blocks longer than 2-3 months? Will that be damaging? Also&hellip;

Comment by Shanook on September 19, 2021

Hi Maanchi, I am following your Doenjang recipe, which is absolutely great! I have followed all the steps and I&hellip;

Comment by Shanook on August 3, 2021

I&#039;m really sorry, I wrote chestnut but I was going to write chickpea and I noticed it now.

Comment by use gram metre celcius please US on October 11, 2021

Hi! I decided to make doenjang (not now there are so many flies) but soybeans aren&#039;t used much in home&hellip;

Comment by use gram metre celcius please US on July 8, 2021

Comment by georgelorane on May 10, 2021

This is my first time making doenjang and I&#039;m at the initial hanging of the meju, before putting the blocks&hellip;

I think you are a master of doenjang making! You&#039;re even replying to some of my other readers&#039; questions. I&hellip;

Comment by Maangchi on April 1, 2021

Maangchi, The second year I am making doenjang and the hanging meju smell much stronger. Very yummy, but too strong&hellip;

Comment by Inches on March 26, 2021

my meju fell apart as they dried. Can I wrap them in cheesecloth and continue all the drying?

Comment by JoeMroz on April 1, 2021

I have tried a few of your recipes; all delicious! I followed this one exactly (except I didn&#039;t have a&hellip;

Comment by JoeMroz on March 21, 2021

It just needs to be dry all the way through and fermented well enough. Smaller meju will probably dry faster&hellip;

Comment by Inches on March 14, 2021

Hi Maangchi, If I make a smaller Meju block do I still need need the same amount of time to&hellip;

Comment by Pickle on March 7, 2021

Oh, you must be so frustrated, I&#039;m sorry to read this. Koreans usually make and ferment meju blocks during the&hellip;

Comment by Maangchi on February 20, 2021

I&#039;ve tried to make it twice and both times flies lay eggs in my meju. ㅠㅠ The first time in&hellip;

Comment by DanielleD on February 15, 2021

Flys and fleas can easily make it through cheesecloth, especially if it touches the block, then even a big one&hellip;

Hello! My meju has been hanging for one week and has lots of white and green fungi growing. But I&hellip;

Comment by DanielleD on November 15, 2020

Some might have flavoring but you&#039;ll probably see a picture of the flavor on it, like an anchovy or garlic&hellip;

Comment by Inches on March 15, 2021

Hi Maangchi. I am from India and am a vegetarian. After seeing your videos i got interested in Korean food.&hellip;

Comment by Renu on October 28, 2020

Yes, it looks good! It&#039;s ok flowers. : ) Just remove the white mold. How did you like the taste&hellip;

Comment by Maangchi on September 24, 2020

Hi! I&rsquo;ve been working my way through the process and am fermenting. White mold is growing but I&rsquo;m not sure&hellip;

Comment by ErinE on July 30, 2020

Sorry, I don&rsquo;t know why my photo is upside down. Should I remove the white &ldquo;scum&rdquo; or leave it be?

Comment by Nerimaro on July 27, 2020

Hello Maangchi! I was so excited to see your Dwenjang making recipe and followed it. All seemed well until the&hellip;

Sorry here&#039;s the extra photo of the orange spots (see previous message)

Comment by Moon on June 20, 2020

How did they turn out? If the blocks touch the bags, then insects can still touch them too. Needs some&hellip;

Hello Maangchi! I&#039;m from the Netherlands and loving your recipes! I&#039;ve made meju blocks but they smell very strong, they&hellip;

Did you use black soybeans? If you are in Indonesia you should use the same as they use for white&hellip;

I ferment my meju block, lot of white, yellow, and pink mold. But it definitely smells earthy. Is it okay?

Comment by semuttmadu on May 16, 2020

Make meju blocks from soybeans

Drain the beans and put them in a large heavy pot. Add water that is three times as deep as the beans, cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 1 hour. Turn the heat down to medium and continue cooking until the beans are soft enough mash easily, 4½ to 5 hours, checking to make sure the beans remain covered with water, and replenishing as necessary. Drain the beans in a colander. Mash the drained beans to a paste in batches with a large mortar and pestle or in a food processor. Don't finely grind them, leave some beans half-crushed. Divide the mashed beans into 3 portions. Knead each portion with both hands and shape into a firm rectangular block measuring 6 x 3 x 4 inches.

Ferment the meju

Traditionally Koreans dry meju on the heated ondol floors of their homes, and if you live in Korea or have that kind of heating in your house, you can do that too. But in my NYC apartment I simulate ondol by putting an electric blanket on the floor. Line the blanket with a clean cotton cloth or waxed paper and set the blocks on top, or put them in an open basket. Set the heat to low. Dry the blocks, rotating them occasionally, until they are solid enough to hang, 3 to 4 days. Tie each block up in cotton twine and hang them. You can hang them outside but be sure to keep them covered and out of the rain, and if it's too hot out they may rot. Inside, you can hang them from the ceiling with hooks. Wherever they hang, the spot should be cool and well-ventilated and all sides of the blocks should be exposed to air and not touching each other. Let the blocks hang for 6 weeks, until they are well dried out and smell a little pungent when you get your nose close to them. Now it’s time to ferment the bean blocks. Place a layer of dried rice straw or hay in the bottom of a cardboard box that’s just big enough to hold the blocks with a little space between them; the straw will insulate the blocks and attract good bacteria like Bacillus subtilis in the air. (Don’t worry if you can’t find straw or hay; the blocks will still attract good bacteria.) Cover the box and put it on the electric blanket. Set the heat to low and let the bean blocks ferment for 2 weeks. At this point, the well-fermented bean blocks will smell a little earthy and pungent and will be covered with white, brownish-yellow, or sometimes greenish fungi. (These fungi change the bean proteins to peptides and amino acids, which will give the bean paste its delicious nutty flavor.) Tie the fermented bean blocks up in cotton twine and hang from the ceiling, as before, for 1 month.

Soak the meju in brine

Wash the blocks in cold water and to remove the fungi. Place the blocks in a shallow basket or on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and let them dry in the sunlight for 1 day, turning them until every side of each block is dried. Combine the 3½ gallons water (56 cups) and 5 quarts of the kosher salt (20 cups) in a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until the salt is thoroughly dissolved. Set out a 4- to 5-gallon earthenware crock. Put 2 pieces of the charcoal on a gas burner; turn on the flame, and heat until they are glowing red. (If you don’t have a gas burner, use the broiler: Put the charcoal pieces under the broiler and turn it on; remove the charcoal when it is red.) Use tongs to transfer the charcoal to the earthenware crock. Drizzle the honey over the burning charcoal. Cover the crock and wait for 5 minutes. Remove the lid. You will see lots of smoke and smell a good caramel aroma. This process sterilizes the inside of the crock and will give the sauce good flavor. Remove the charcoal and wipe the inside of the crock with paper towels. Add the bean blocks and salted water to the crock. Add the remaining piece of charcoal, the jujubes, and dried hot peppers; they will float on the surface of the water. (The charcoal will attract and absorb any dust. The jujubes add sweetness and the dried red peppers help prevent the blocks from going bad.) Cover the crock with flour sacking or cheesecloth and put on the lid. Let the blocks soak in the salty water until well fermented, 2 to 3 months. On clear days remove the lid and let the crock sit in the sunlight. Close it at night and be sure to keep the crock covered with the cloth so bugs and dust can’t get in. As time passes, the salty water will turn brown and smell like deeply fermented soy sauce.

Separate the doenjang from the soy sauce

Discard the charcoal, jujubes, and peppers. Transfer the soaked bean blocks to a large bowl. The blocks may have broken up during the soak, so use a bowl to scoop the soy sauce out of the crock and into a strainer set over another large bowl. Add any pieces of bean block to the bean block bowl. Save the soy sauce for making Korean soup soy sauce (gukganjang) later. Mix the doenjang with both hands, breaking it up into a paste, and transfer it to a 5-quart earthenware crock. Pack it down and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup kosher salt. Cover with the cotton cloth, secure it with a rubber band, and put on the lid. Put the doenjang crock in a sunny spot for its final fermentation. About twice a week on sunny days, remove the lid and let the sunlight shine into the crock through the cotton cloth. When it’s well fermented, the doenjang will smell sweet and taste salty and earthy, with a deep flavor. This will take 5 to 6 months. If it ever looks a little too dry on top, pour some of the separated soy sauce on top to make it moist again. You don't need to stir it in.

Serving and storage

Store the doenjang in the crock outside the house or at room temperature. Whenever you take some out, press the rest down with a spoon to keep out the air. Once in a while, take the lid off, cover with a cotton cloth, and let the sun hit it again.

Soybean pastes and noodles make good friends, as in Alexa Weibel’s <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020979-five-ingredient-creamy-miso-pasta">five-ingredient creamy miso pasta</a>. This version leans into the funkier, saltier flavor of doenjang, a Korean soybean paste whose pungency is an absolute pleasure in <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022663-beans-and-greens-stew-with-doenjang">jjigaes</a>, <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017445-spicy-sweet-korean-barbecue-sauce-ssamjang">sauces</a> and even <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017377-boston-brown-bread">bread made in a can</a>. Here, doenjang is tempered by the natural sweetness of milk, which stars in many Korean takes on Italian pasta. The milk thickens as it mixes with the starchy noodles and creates a velvety sauce, one that tastes rich but measured, with a rounded cheesy quality. It will seem like a lot of liquid at first, but the milk will reduce. The finished pasta sauce will continue to thicken once it’s off the heat; add more pasta water if it starts to look dry.

Creamy Doenjang Pasta

Salt

linguine, bucatini or spaghetti

milk

doenjang (see Tip)

mirin

black pepper

unsalted butter

Parmesan,

Bring a large, wide pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high. Cook the pasta until about 2 minutes shy of al dente (according to package instructions); it should still be a little uncooked in the center and will finish cooking in the sauce later. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta and return it to the empty pot. While the pasta is cooking, pour the milk into a large liquid measuring cup or medium bowl. Whisk in the doenjang, mirin and a generous crack of black pepper until the doenjang dissolves.

To the pasta pot, add the butter, milk mixture and half of the pasta water. Bring to a simmer over high. Cook, stirring constantly and vigorously with a wooden spoon, until the sauce reduces and thickens significantly, coating the noodles like thin cream, 5 to 7 minutes. Taste and season with salt if needed.

Divide among plates. Top with as much grated Parmesan as you’d like and another crack of black pepper. Serve immediately.

A Korean twist on the popular miso carbonara, this delicious mushroom Doenjang carbonara is deliciously creamy and umami, and soo guilt-free. Best of all, this dish comes together in less than 15 minutes, perfect for when you’re in a hangry mood.

Mushroom Doenjang Carbonara Udon

tbsp Doenjang

Parmesan cheese

pack Udon

Mushrooms of choice ((I used Baby Bella))

Scallions, Togarashi ((For garnish))

270 Calories

g Protein

g Fat

g Carbs

Begin by mixing together the Doenjang carbonara sauce ingredients in a bowl thoroughly, and set aside.

In a pot, prepare the udon noodles or noodles of choice, and set aside.

Spray cooking oil in a skillet and begin to saute garlic, onions, and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Change heat to low and add in the noodles, then add in the sauce and mix thoroughly. It’s important to make sure the heat is low at this point or else the egg-based sauce will begin to curdle.

Remove from heat, garnish, and enjoy!

This speedy meal is for seekers of the sweet-salty, known as dan-jjan in Korean. Doenjang, a glorious Korean fermented soybean paste, anchors the sauce with funk and umami. This sauce, balanced with sweet mirin and tangy rice vinegar, both marinates and lacquers salmon, which is quick-roasted. Cutting the fish into cubes allows more surface area for the salmon fat to render quickly, while the centers cook to a medium-rare, melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, a satisfying contrast to the still-crunchy, just-charred onions. This soul-warming breakfast, lunch or dinner tastes best with white rice, kimchi and whatever other accompaniments you might enjoy.

Doenjang Salmon Rice Bowl

dark brown sugar

rice vinegar

salmon

rice,

Kimchi,

In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar, oil, doenjang, mirin and vinegar until the sugar and doenjang dissolve. Season with salt and pepper. Add the salmon to the marinade and turn with your fingers to evenly coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes and up to 8 hours.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Add the onion slices to a sheet pan or shallow baking dish. Dump the salmon and its marinade over the onion and toss to combine. Arrange the salmon and onion in a single layer.

Roast until the doenjang glaze bubbles like hot lava along the edges of the pan and the salmon is opaque but still slightly pink in the center, rotating the pan halfway through, 9 to 12 minutes. Divide the rice then the salmon among bowls and serve with kimchi, if desired.

A well-executed doenjang jjigae, or fermented soybean paste stew, can be a quiet but powerful exercise in restraint. This simple recipe allows the umami-rich flavor of the doenjang (DWEN-jahng) and the natural sweetness of onion, zucchini and radish to shine. The oil-packed anchovies here may not be as traditional as dried, but they are an effective substitute that I learned from my friend James Park. You can make this dish vegan by skipping the anchovies and swapping the slightly lily-gilding rib-eye steak for cubed medium-firm tofu.

Doenjang Jjigae

doenjang, plus more to taste (see Tip)

garlic cloves,

red onion,

zucchini,

Korean radish, peeled, quartered, then thinly sliced crosswise

shiitake

(4-inch) square dasima (dried kelp),

anchovies,

thin, boneless rib-eye steak (about

To a medium pot, add the doenjang, garlic, onion, zucchini, radish, mushrooms, dasima, anchovies, soy sauce and 3 cups cold tap water, and season lightly with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to gently boil, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables start to soften and the broth tastes intensely savory and as salty as the sea, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning with more doenjang or salt as desired; the stew should be assertively seasoned.

Stir in the steak and continue gently boiling the jjigae, stirring once or twice, until the meat is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Serve with bowls of fresh white rice.

This pork belly dish is less a recipe and more a road map to dinner. A chill way to have Korean barbecue at home, samgyeopsal, or “three-layer meat,” refers to pork belly’s fat cap and the two leaner layers of meat below it, one light and one dark. Crisp slivers of pork are wrapped in various lettuces and dabbed with doenjang honey and punchy slivers of raw garlic. The lightly peppered, vinegared freshness of pa muchim, an all-occasion scallion salad often served with the grilled meats at Korean barbecue restaurants, is a welcome accompaniment to rich foods like fried or rotisserie-style chickens, pan-seared pork chops, and grilled bulgogi, galbi and samgyeopsal. Don’t skip the sesame oil dipping sauce; its nuttiness lets the pork belly shine.

Samgyeopsal

trimmed,

gochugaru

sesame oil

sugar

Coarse kosher salt and black pepper

lettuces,

pork

Make the pa muchim: In a medium bowl, toss to combine the scallions, vinegar, gochugaru, sesame oil and sugar. Season to taste with salt and pepper; set aside.

Prepare the samgyeopsal spread: Wash and dry the lettuces and arrange on a large platter. Thinly slice the garlic cloves and place on a small plate, scooching the slices to one side. Make the doenjang honey by dabbing the doenjang onto the other side of the plate and drizzling the honey over the doenjang. Make the dipping sauce by adding 1 teaspoon salt and a generous grind of black pepper to 4 small dishes (or however many are dining); drizzle each dish with 1 tablespoon sesame oil.

Cook the pork belly: Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add half of the pork belly and cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges are crispy and lightly browned but the centers are still plump and meaty, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a towel-lined platter. Drain the fat from the pan and discard. Repeat with the remaining pork belly. Serve immediately with bowls of fresh white rice.

To eat, dip the fried pork belly into the dipping sauce, then place on a lettuce leaf. Smear some of the doenjang honey onto the pork belly, top with a slice of raw garlic and a small chopstickful of pa muchim. Fold the lettuce wrap into a bundle and eat. Chase with the white rice. Another lovely thing to do: Dip the lettuces into the doenjang honey or dipping sauce, and eat them like crudités between bites of crispy pork belly.

Doenjang jjigae (된장찌개) is a Korean soybean paste stew made with protein of choice, tofu, potatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini. It&#39;s flavored with doenjang, a delicious fermented Korean soybean paste that&#39;s full of umami flavor.

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