[Post for my big sister Donna in Singapore and friends who are interested in Koreanizing their meals/kitchen]
Well, at least I'm trying to be positive that this project would reach almost a hundred articles under it, haha! Actually, I've been working on 3 different pages for this but decided to take it slowly so the articles won't be both picture and text heavy.
Like me, you might have tried checking out sites on how to cook a certain dish you really liked from your recent visit to a Korean restaurant but failed to understand some of the terms or ingredients mentioned. You might also have wondered what these color coded tubs actually contain whenever you visit your favorite Asian store...
It's not really difficult to "Koreanize" your meals or dishes. With Aeri's Kitchen and Maangchi's Korean cooking on Youtube and a Korean cookbook on hand, I slowly learned my way in our simple Korean kitchen.... (I prefer working alone and learning from my mistakes.)
So let me introduce to you the essential or popular "장"(jang) or cooking "pastes" you'll find in a typical Korean kitchen like ours.
1. 쌈장 = Ssam-jang is a "wrapping sauce" and can be made at home if you have doenjang and gochujang. We actually have a big jar of home made ssamjang but I find this commercially produced (in green tubs you'll see at Korean groceries or Asian stores) tastier and more refreshing.
So what can you do with the ssamjang anyway?
(a) Wraps. Samgyeopsal would be incomplete without it. I sometimes prefer my meat with a bit of salt, black pepper and sesame seeds only (without the "wraps"), but having a ssamjang within your reach is still different.
(Sorry, the table was messy. Well, what would you expect with just me and Alex, haha! Anyway, the above samgyeopsal arrangement was done by Alex. When the meat is really delicious, I usually eat it without the wrap which he finds disgusting... Thus, he wraps the meat for me.)
(b) You also don't need to have meat to enjoy ssamjang or wraps. On one "sangchu" or RED leaf lettuce, put some rice, add a piece or two of kimchi, garlic chip, and a bit of ssamjang. Roll the leaf into a ball and eat. You can also use perilla leaves (my favorite over the sangchu) or just the pickled radish (pictured above with the sangchu).
(c) Grill some big onions or thinly sliced garlic and dip...
(d) You can also dip your green leafy vegetables in it... (steamed, raw or half cooked)
examples:
**Cut cucumbers and carrots into finger lenghts. Serve with ssamjang and voila, your simple meal is already Koreanized...
**Tried it with cooked or blanched sayote, sayote tops and Kamote (sweet potato) tops and they tasted really good.. Now I miss KangKong..
**Alex loves dipping half cooked or blanched veggies in it like broccoli and spinach...
2. "Chun jang" or Black Bean Paste, because of its dark color, gave me the impression that it tastes bitter when I first saw it. When Alex showed me how to cook "jajang-myeon" (Noodles with Black Bean Sauce) back in the Philippines, using an instant mixture, I really didn't like the taste. However, after trying the real jajangmyeon from the Chinese restaurant we frequent here in Incheon just because of the said noodle and their jjampong, I decided to just search "how to's" from the internet. My first ever jajangmyeon or let's just say Black Bean Sauce was a hit. Even MIL who doesn't eat pork wasn't able to resist it, wahaha!
The "chun jang" is made from fermented soybeans. Thus the salty flavor. It is either fried with the other ingredients before adding the meat stock or fried separately and just added to the stock and ingredients later such that it is called the "fried sauce."
My serving for Alex (with noodles):
I actually julienned carrots and cucumber for this but he asked me to just keep them for "jjolmyeon."
Since I don't really like noodles, I almost always have the black bean sauce with rice.. (Plain rice was mixed with red rice and soy beans--our regular rice here at home.)
At the Chinese restaurant, they serve sliced (white) onions and pickled radish with the black paste as a dip... Mashiso!!!
3. "된장" or Doen-Jang or Soy Bean Paste, lighter in color compared to that of Chun Jang, is said to be second only to gochujang in the list of essential Korean ingredients. Compared to the Japanese miso, doenjang has a stronger flavor. It is thick and salty such that only small amounts are needed when flavoring a dish.
(I think MIL added an old stock hence the darker paste at the left side of the tub.)
Aside from being the main ingredient in making Doenjang jigae or ssamjang, this "thick paste" can also be used as it is as a vegetable dip. There are many known health benefits one can derive from this paste. So why not get yourself even the smallest sized tub the next time you visit a Korean/Asian store...?
4. "고추장" or Go-Chu-Jang or Red Pepper Paste, like the SSam-Jang, is very easy to spot when you go to a Korean grocery or Asian store.
Since Koreans love hot or spicy food, you've probably read about this "ingredient" many times already. This is usually used as a base for stews and marinades. Alex uses this as a dip too. He just mixes in some crushed garlic and sesame seeds.
So start Koreanizing your meals with the simple above mentioned ways. Special mentioned Korean dishes are so popular that there are lots of "how to's" to choose from on youtube.
Also, enjoy YOUR newly found kitchen ingredients or "jangs"....
Feel free to leave in your comment how you Koreanize your meals with the listed "jangs"....
Coming up: Other basic Korean Ingredients.
