Gochujang Jjigae (Gochujang Stew)

I finally managed to get my hands on some gochugaru over here! Of course, much like at home, they don't appear to believe in selling it in small amounts. So now I have an entire kilo of the stuff! But oh well... I won't use all of it in the next two months, but I'll definitely use some. And now I can make more tasty things like this gochujang stew!

Photo goes here.

Gochujang Jjigae

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Calire

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru (Korean chile flakes)
• 1 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
• black pepper, to taste
• ~750g potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 5-10 mushrooms¹
• ~300g zucchini
• 300g tofu (preferably firm or medium)
• 3 green onions
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• ~450g stewing beef
• 6 c. rice water²
• 1-2 Cheongyang chile, sliced (optional)
• 1 mild red chile, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the gochugaru, dasida, sugar, gochujang, soy sauce, fish sauce, and black pepper. Mix well and set aside.
2. Cut the potatoes, onion, and mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
3. Cut the zucchini and tofu into bite-sized pieces and set aside in a separate bowl.
4. Chop the green onions, keeping the whites and green separated. Add the white parts of the green onions ot the flavour paste.
5. Mince the garlic and add it to the flavour paste.
6. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
7. Add the beef and cook until seared on all sides.
8. Reduce heat to medium and add the flavour paste mixture. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
9. Add the potatoes, onion, and mushrooms along with the rice water and bring to a boil.
10. Cook until potatoes are just tender (~12 minutes).
11. Add the zucchini and tofu and cook until zucchini is tender (6-7 minutes longer).
12. Sprinkle with the green parts of the green onions and chilies (if using).
13. Serve with rice.

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¹ Aaron recommends 5 shiitake mushrooms, but suggests oyster, enoki, and/or white button mushrooms as possible alternatives. Given that white button mushrooms were on sale this week (but much less flavourful than some of the other options), I just used them and tossed in twice as many as the recipe called for. ^Back
2 This stew is best served with a bowl of rice. Save the water you use to rinse it before cooking and use it in this stew. If you forget, plain water is also fine to use. But I prefer using the rice water if I can. Both because it gives the stew a bit of extra starch and because... why waste it? I'd much rather use the rice water than pour it down the drain! ^Back