Gaji-namul is a simple, delicious, everyday Korean side dish, meant to be eaten with other side dishes and rice.
It’s one of my favorites. I love the fresh taste, soft texture, and the beautiful vibrant purple color of the dish on the table. It’s refreshing and goes well with oilier items to offset their texture and taste. I never get tired of it!
If you are a vegetarian, replace the fish sauce with soy sauce.
Ingredients
(serves 4):
- 1 pound of Korean eggplants (3-4 eggplants), caps removed and washed
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, crushed
Directions
- Prep your steamer by adding 2 cups of water to it. Set heat to medium-high for it to boil, it shoud take about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut eggplants crosswise into 2½ inch pieces. Cut the thicker pieces in half lengthwise.
- When the water starts boiling, put the eggplants on the steamer rack and cover. Steam for 5 minutes over medium high heat.
- Remove from the heat. Take out the steamed eggplant and transfer to a cutting board. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes until you can easily handle them.
- Tear each piece into bite size pieces.
Make seasoning mixture:
- Combine garlic, green onion, soy sauce, fish sauce, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil in a mixing bowl.
- Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Put it together & serve:
- Add the steamed eggplant to the bowl and mix well by hand or with the wooden spoon.
- Sprinkle with the crushed sesame seeds and serve with rice.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
I’m usually not a big eggplant fan. However, if Maangchi is cooking, it must be delicious! I tried this recipe tonight and it came out very nice. I think for my own taste I will add a little more soy sauce and garlic next time because I love those heavier flavors with the blander eggplant. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us :-)
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Mouthwatering! Thank you for trusting my recipes! : )
Hello Maangchi!
I just made this recipe, however, I had to substitute the Korean eggplant for ‘western’ eggplant because I live in a small town and the only Asian grocery store, unfortunately, doesn’t sell that type of eggplant. Nevertheless, it was extremely delicious and I’m so thankful that you share all of these recipes with us! Will be making this dish regularly from now to eat with my dinner (I’m a student so this is perfect for me!)
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Wow! You made it very nicely!
I tried your gaji-namul recipe for making the bibimbap and it was a hit! So simple, yet satisfying and utterly delicious! I did replace the fish sauce with coco aminos, being a vegetarian.
I am simply mesmerized with Korean cooking. Being from Eastern Europe, married to an Indian man, living in the US (melting pot indeed), Korean food is such a discovery!
Now I am serving kimchi with everything, including Moldovan traditional dishes ;)!
Our landlady is Korean, and I have asked her to taste my Kimchi that I made based on your recipe and she was wowed. Again, thank you!
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No wonder it was a big hit, it looks so juicy and delicious! You used coco aminos instead of fish sauce to make it vegetarian? I should check it out, thanks for the tip!
You are welcome!
Yesterday I tried adding some zucchini along with eggplant, and serves it with quinoa.
It was lips-macking!
It may be my master recipe for so many other fried vegetables! Thanks a bunch.
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Hello … I just try this recipe. It’s yummy. Thanks Maangchi.
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can I not add the red pepper powder in if I don’t eat spicy food? and also can I add some sugar to make it sweeter ? will it changes the original flavour ?
You can modify the recipe to your taste, just skip the red pepper powder and add more sugar!
I love this recipe!! Mine isn’t as vibrant purple because I can’t find nice Asian eggplants around here so I use the fatter, darker purpleones, but this is my second week making a big batch to eat for breakfast every day before school. I really like the soft juiciness of the eggplant with plenty of garlic flavour :D
Maangchi!
Tried this recipe today!… I replaced the fish sauce with salt because I didn’t have it at home thou. Taste not bad and I think with fish sauce it will be even better. =DDDDDD
Thanks for the recipe…!
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Gorgeous! Soy sauce will work well, too if fish sauce is not available.
i first saw this at the korean market around the block from me. decided to try some since there were so many other people buying some. mmmm! i love eggplant and the sauce is so good. of course, i knew you had to have a recipe for it here. just made it and ohhhh, i’m in heaven! love it! thanks for sharing all your great recipes!
I’m glad you liked the recipe! This is one of the all-time most authentic Korean recipes!
Dear Maangchi,
Love your cooking and like your site.Going to make Eggplant side dish.Would you please tell me,what is 《hot pepper flack》 If I can’t find what do I use inside of?
Many thanks.
Rosemarie Sandvik ☺
Check this out, Rosemarie!
https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/hot-pepper-flakes
Just tried, really good :)) Thank you Maangchi for sharing!
I made this dish tonight. It is so very tasty! Now I know why this is one of your favorites, Maangchi! Thank you for sharing your recipes and your time.
What kind of soy sauce you use for this ? Regular soy sauce or light or sweet soy sauce ?
It’s this soy sauce: https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/soy-sauce
Thanks for letting me know I didn’t have links in the ingredient list! I just added them now.
Thank you so much
Hello! I am steaming baby bok choi now… what about using the same marinade and make “bok choi side dish”? :)
Yum! Just made this and was dancing up and down waiting for the rice cooker to finish! Ate a huge bowl of rice and half the recipe as lunch. Happily full, mouth slightly burning just a warm slow burn from the pepper flakes, slight hum of sesame wafting around. Delicious!
Maangchi this is your first recipe I’ve made! I love your youtube channel and all of your videos and your personality! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes! I will buy your book soon!! I think I over-cooked my eggplant a little, but this still came out so tasty! Even my boyfriend liked it!
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Your gaji-namul looks juicy, soft, and delicious! Yummy!
Thank you Maangchi!!!
Wow! 마시써요!
So easy and delicious! I will adapt the sauce to my tastes but that’s a favorite :)
Oh, i found another favorite! I love fried eggplant but this one is a must try!
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Thank you for sharing the photo! The steamed purple eggplant looks gorgeous! It looks juicy and soft!
Hi Maangchi,
Would love to know if I can keep this in the fridge for few days?
Thanks
Yes, you can refrigerate it up to a few days.
I just finished gobbling this down! Big fan of eggplant, but this is now my all time favorite way of preparing it. Wow, it was so good, I nearly ate the entire amount in one sitting.
I really want to make this recipe, but I’ve been to several different stores and cannot find the hot pepper flakes. :(
I FIIIINALLY found a Korean market around here!! >_< I found the hot pepper flakes, I got some dried anchovies as well and some kimchi. I am going to try a few of your recipes this week.
Hi maangchi…can u saw me your fish soy sauce?cause i cannot find in mart…
Here you go. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/fish-sauce
This was tasty but the amount of sauce to eggplant seemed way out of proportion – I had to add much shoyu, salt, sesame oil, garlic, hot pepper flakes to make them seasoned. 1lb of eggplant would go well with the listed amounts of ingredients for the sauce.
omg, I said in the video 1 pound of eggplants are needed but in the written recipe, I wrote 3 pounds! I fixed it now. Thank you for pointing out.
Great. I had a ton of eggplant to eat! Took them to a potluck and they enjoyed.
We take my halmoni out to a Korean restaurant each week, and I share some of your recipes with the workers. They enjoy having people give them food!
Will you post a yakgwa recipe soon?
I tried it last week!!! It was awesome!!! :D
Hi Maangchi, I recently discovered your youtube channel and really like the recipes you’re sharing! I was wondering how long can the eggplant side dish be kept in the refrigerator?
Welcome to my website!
Gajinamul (eggplant side dish) can be kept in the fridge up to 2 days.
I just recently found your site and your videos are mouth watering :)
Maangchi, can you show us how to make those pickle cucumber side dish. I just loved them. Thanks so much.
Here is my cucumber pickle recipe. I hope this is what you are looking for. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/oijangajji
Beautiful and simple recipe, Maangchi! I made this with bibimbap and it was really good. Instead of steaming the eggplants, I grilled them which gave it a more robust flavor. I love it.
Hi Maangchi! I just cooked this recipe but found out I didn’t have soy sauce as the company sat waiting for their eggplant side dish! I used fish oil instead and it worked great! Thanks so much! Read about how I did it using white eggplant at http://www.cookingdangerously.com.
It’s great your Albino eggplant works well with this recipe! yum!
Maangchi , we didn’t have asian eggplants at the local store .. hope this recipe still works for regular eggplant . And i am going to roast the eggplant instead of steaming it , no steamer .
Delicious !!! I ended up roasting the eggplant in the oven with olive oil , for 15 minutes and it turned out so yummy !! Thanks Maangchi :D
great tip! So smart! : )
I did this recipe with normal grocery store bought eggplant and it worked fine! :) We love your recipes Maangchi!!!
love eggplants!!!… LOVE GARLIC!!!!…love this recipe and would really make them all the time now.. in an hour or so.. im heading to the grocery to buy the ingredients…. thanks for the recipe and btw, love the get-up!!!..
ooh you are going to taste sweet soft gajinamul soon! : )
omg!!!. mouthwatering…love this recipe and love ur outfit!
Compared to korean men, I think my dad is a fussier eater. He hates garlic, I’m thinking of taking his portion aside to just mix with soysauce, sesame seed and oil. I’m mixing lots of garlic in mine YAY!
Hi Maangchi, thanks for sharing your recipes with us. I have tried to make this eggplant side dish myself. It tastes very very nice. I love it a lot cause it is not only tasty but also very healthy–no need to use oil to fry it. However, I am wondering how long I can keep this side dish?
It will be ok up to 24 hours in the fridge.
Thanks for your reply that is very hepful to me…
By the way, is that possible to have your email address? many thanks
Sure, maangchi@gmail.com
Can you believe that we can’t buy eggplant (any kind) any more in any of our grocery stores, nor can the local Asian restaurants purchase said ingredient because it’s unavailable for couple months?
The winter frost (you know from that unusual cold winter this year) in Mexico took its toll so we have to wait couple more months. WHAT A BUMMER! I got to make this 3 times since I’ve discovered Maangchi’s website and oh how I miss eating it!
I love gajinamul, too! I have no problem finding the eggplants here though. It’s sold at a Korean store or in Chinatown.
I made Gaji namul and it was great! It works great in a bento.
http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2011/02/cooking-korean-gaji-namul.html