I’m very excited to introduce you to this popular Korean side dish, “godeungeo-mujorim,” which is braised mackerel and radish in soy sauce based broth. Along with grilled mackerel, this is the most popular way of cooking mackerel in Korean cuisine.

I love not only the fish but also the cooked radish. The texture of the cooked radish is soft, juicy, and a little sweet and salty. When you cook this dish, expect your house to be full of a delicious aroma that might lead your neighbors to knock at your door and say with sniff sniff:

“Where does this delicious smell come from? It makes me go crazy! uh? Is this mackerel? Holy mackerel!  It looks so tasty! Can you share some with me?”

Ingredients

For 4 servings
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes

Mackerel, soy sauce, sugar, Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru), garlic, ginger, Korean radish (or daikon), onion, green onions, green and red chili peppers.

Directions

  1. Prepare 2 medium sized fresh or frozen mackerel (750 grams, or 1.7 pounds). Thaw them out if frozen.
  2. Cut off the fins and heads.
  3. Make a slit from the top to the vent and clean the guts.
  4. Cut the fish across into 2 inch pieces, rinse in cold water, drain, and set aside

Prepare your vegetables:

  1. Peel a large, heavy Korean radish. Cut 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) worth of  radish into pieces 2 inch wide, 2½ inch long, and 1 inch thick.
  2. Add the radish pieces to a large thick bottomed pot with. Spread them out evenly, by hand.
  3. 1 large onion or 2 medium sized onions (about 400 grams’, or 2 cups’ worth), cut into ¼ inch thick slices and  place over the radish.
  4. Cut 3 stalks of green onions into pieces 1 inch long, and chop 2 green chili peppers and 1 red chili pepper. Set aside

Let’s make godeungeo jorim:

  1. Place the mackerel on top of the pieces of radish.
  2. Make seasoning sauce in a bowl by mixing ½ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup hot pepper flakes, 2 tbs sugar, ⅓  cup garlic cloves minced (12 cloves), and 1 tbs of minced ginger.
  3. Pour the seasoning sauce over the fish. Pour in 1 cup of water along the edges of the pot.
  4. Close the lid and bring to a boil over high heat for 20 minutes.
  5. Open the lid, tilt the pot, and use a spoon to push aside the mackerel and radish to make empty spot for the broth to well.
  6. Scoop some broth from the empty spot and pour it over top of the fish and radish. Repeat several times.
  7. Add the chopped green onion, green and red chili peppers.
  8. Close the lid and lower the heat to a simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the radish is cooked thoroughly. The radish will absorb the soy sauce based broth, so it will look brownish and a little translucent when cooked nicely.
  9. Open the lid and turn up the heat to boil off excess broth.
  10. Tilt the pot and use a spoon to push aside the mackerel and radish to make empty spot for the broth to well.
  11. Scoop some broth from the empty spot and pour it over top of the fish and radish. Repeat it off and on for about 5-7 minutes.
  12. Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Serve with rice, kimchi, soup, lettuce, and a few more side dishes.

Leave your rating:

So far this is rated 5/5 from 156 votes

Be the first to rate this.

58 Comments:

  1. kvohra1 US joined 7/22 & has 2 comments

    Hello – I am going to make braised mackerel with radish for the 1st time. It looks so delicious!!! I wanted to know if I used 4 mackerels instead of 2, should I just double each ingredient portion?. Also, what would be the cooking time for 4 mackerels? Thank you so much for your help.

  2. Noetherian New Jersey joined 4/20 & has 3 comments

    Thank you for the delicious recipe Maangchi! I was out of sugar so I used honey instead and I loved the outcome!


    See full size image

  3. jasperridge San Diego, California joined 2/14 & has 6 comments

    Loved this! I only had canned mackerel but it was still delicious. I’ll use fresh next time.


    See full size image

  4. ukiyo turkey joined 1/20 & has 1 comment

    I tried this recipe and wow it tastes good. Thank you for recipe. I love you

  5. AlexanderKim Boston, MA, USA joined 4/18 & has 5 comments

    One of my favorite dishes! Luckily, in Massachusetts, there are lots of mackerel near the coast. I made this dish in the afternoon with mackerel and bonito that I had just caught that morning! Soooo fresh


    See full size image

  6. Jae_yong Uk joined 12/16 & has 2 comments

    Hello! I am having problems getting mackerel , do you think that I could do this with salmon? If so what would the cooking time be?

  7. Jenmei joined 4/15 & has 2 comments

    Annyeonghseyo Maangchi!

    I live in Male(Maldives). So lots of fresh tuna fish are available here but i cant find mackerels . so can i replace the above recipe godeungeo-mujorim with tuna and normal white radish.

    Warm Regards,
    Jenna Gangmei

  8. Joe.C Seattle WA joined 11/14 & has 2 comments

    Hi Maanchi, I am new here posted in wrong place -sorry. My wife is from Pusan, and misses her mothers Belt fish stew. I think this is the same recipe just Belt fish in place of Mackerel. Will Belt Fish work? If not can you post a belt fish recipe?
    Thank you
    Joe.C Seattle WA

  9. mandy-chan New York joined 2/11 & has 2 comments

    I made this for dinner for my family, so delicious and easy, think this is going to become a regular dinner for us!! I’m actually looking forward to the leftovers!

  10. Miss Kim78 socali joined 3/13 & has 40 comments

    What other fish have you made jorim with? Mackerel is great, but I’m sure other fish can be delicious for this recipe too, right? When I didn’t have mackerel, I used a Blue Dog fish. It was still delish. I have a pic with a bunch of fishes that my friend caught when he went fishing. Which fishes (from the pic) would be good for jorim? http://www.behgopa.com/2013/11/fishy-fishy-fishy.html

    Do you ever go fishing, Maangchi?

  11. ina78 Jerteh, Terengganu, Malaysia joined 4/09 & has 45 comments

    Well, I tried it and it was so delicious. … the smells that come when I cooked it was so…. good…. definitely will make it another time… yummy, yummy…..

  12. erik000 san diego, ca joined 1/13 & has 1 comment

    this broth is delicious with any combination of fish and/or vegetables… i did salmon and daikon with it, and also a vegetarian version using sweet potato and carrot instead of mackerel! :-)
    thanks for the recipe!

  13. YeonAh Montreal, Québec joined 5/11 & has 9 comments

    Hi Maangchi! I really really want to try making this for my parents, it looks so good! But my dad won’t eat anything with fish bones still inside :( If I take the fish off the bones before braising, or buy just the frozen fillets where it’s already off the bone, will the recipe still be as yummy?

  14. nalalala Melbourne, Australia joined 6/12 & has 2 comments

    Hi Maangchi! My husband and I LOVED this recipe! Thank you for doing what you do. I’ve learned so much from you.

  15. ina78 Jerteh, Terengganu, Malaysia joined 4/09 & has 45 comments

    Maangchi,
    If I want to make Braised Hairtail Fish, can I used the same recipes….? well, when I search for hairtail fish, I found a video about Braised Hairtail Fish at Namdaemun alley, it’s look so delicous, this is the link :
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiPar4VOL9Y&feature=player_detailpage#t=0s

    I’m not sure if you can or not to find the link, so this the tittle for that video…
    Namdaemun alley of Braised Hairtail Fish

  16. ZenMistress California joined 4/12 & has 7 comments

    I made this with two beautiful frozen mackerel. It’s winter in California now, and the radishes in the asian grocery stores are very very good. I’ve never gutted and trimmed a mackerel before, thank you for the great instructions and visuals. Delicious dish for oily fish lovers, like me. Thank you for the great recipe, it was DELICIOUS.

  17. slugette New Zealand joined 11/11 & has 4 comments

    I bought a frozen makerel and thawed it out, and found that it had very strong fishy smell. That’s not normal is it? I threw the fish out in the end. Fresh makerel is almost never available where I shop, so I was wondering…. Would canned makerel work too?

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      hmm, frozen mackerel should work well. Add more ginger if it is too fishy. Yes, you can use canned mackerel. During my Gapshida trip, Susanne from Roterdam the Netherlands made her braised mackerel with canned mackerel. It was very tasty. Check out the photo here. https://www.maangchi.com/blog/gapshida-rotterdam-susanne

    • dpark714 SoCal joined 7/14 & has 1 comment

      Yes! Canned mackerel works, too! I recently moved to a small town very far away from the ocean where fresh fish is not always available, so I took a chance on canned mackerel, and my family liked it fine. For me, I was craving the moo/radish portion of the dish, and the canned mackerel worked perfectly to bring out the “traditional salty-sweet-hot fish sauce” taste of the broth. The sauce tasted just like the ones at Korean restaurants, and that’s what I was trying for-the traditional sauce taste of this dish, rather than the type of fish in it.

  18. sakura joined 1/10 & has 3 comments

    Hi Maangchi!

    If I replaced the mackerel with black cod, would it be eundaegujorim? It looks very similar!
    I’m so glad you do all these videos. My husband is Korean-American and although I learned a few recipes from his mother, now with your videos, I can cook more dishes and hope to impress my mother-in-law someday!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      yes, it can be called eundaegu jorim (braised cod with radish)! Eundagu is black cod. Check out the recipe submitted by one of my readers Georgia here. I will post it someday later.
      https://www.maangchi.com/talk/topic/eun-dae-gu-jorim

      • piperjohn3 NYC joined 12/11 & has 10 comments

        Would save your sablefish (black cod) for another recipe if it’s as expensive a it is here in Manhattan ($20/lb). I just made this recipe again and think that Maangchi wanted to emphasize how you can make a delicious meal with a cheap fish with a lot of spice and ginger. It is indeed a delicious dish.

        Personally I would go with a less aggressive sauce and cook the black cod much more delicately to emphasize it’s natural flavor. Poaching would rock.

        My 0.02

        • sakura joined 1/10 & has 3 comments

          Piperjohn3,

          Black cod is about $18/lb here so not too different from Manhattan prices. Had black cod (eundaegu jorim) prepared in a similar way (radish underneath fish, spicy and savory sauce) at Sorabol in Hawaii, and it was really delicious! Didn’t want to experiment without a recipe because it is such an expensive fish. Will make this recipe as is, and try Georgia’s recipe with the black cod.

          Thanks for the 0.02

      • sakura joined 1/10 & has 3 comments

        Thank you, I will try Georgia’s recipe, and I look forward to yours, too!

  19. weirdingway San Diego, CA joined 11/11 & has 8 comments

    Yum! Everyone was out of whole mackerel today (except salted) so I used filets.. still had a few bones though. My cat was bugging me for a taste immediately. She liked it too! =^,,^=

  20. joyoon joined 8/10 & has 9 comments

    This tastes surprisingly good! But the smell is even better!! It’s very umami-taste!

  21. peonygirl portland, oregon joined 8/09 & has 51 comments

    Maanghci!!
    It has been a long time since I have checked out your recipes! This braised mackerel recipe looks so good! I will try it exactly the way you posted it but do you also think the Potatoes would be good in place of the radish???
    thanks!

    lisa

  22. cobugi Davis, CA joined 5/10 & has 7 comments

    Maangchi! I love it when you try your food because you always get a mouthful! Makes the food look even yummier!

  23. syu88 texas joined 9/11 & has 1 comment

    I made this dish yesterday and it came out perfect! My husband loves it. It is hard to find a good frozen mackerel nearby since I had to drive across town to get more fresh ones. Is there an alternate frozen or fresh fish we can use for this dish? I also see frozen hairtail, belt fish, croaker, corvina, indian mackerel (is that the same? looks smaller) at the asian market nearby. The frozen packaged mackerel is already salted so i think it would be too salty for this dish. thanks for your advice.

  24. mokpochica Michigan joined 1/09 & has 89 comments

    This was a hit with the whole family–and our Korean friends too. I made this yesterday and it is gone now. It was the first time I have cleaned the guts out of a fish. Very easy since it was frozen, like the one you showed. My kids and I love watching your videos and then making the food together. The girls helped make the sauce and threw in the green onions and peppers. So delicious!

  25. ygroves joined 1/09 & has 3 comments

    One of my fave! Now if only I could get my husband to stop complaining about the smell : )

    • jinpong Washington State joined 6/11 & has 10 comments

      Hi ~
      I attempted this dish last night and had some issues. I followed your directions and after boiling on high for 20min, it started burning before I noticed. The bottom radish n onions started sticking n burning with the pot and sucked up all the juice. So I had to add more water n transfer pots since I didn’t want to waste the mackarel. I cooked it for over 40 min additional and the radish wasnt soft. Does it take that long? How can I avoid the burning and the water evaporating? Most of the fish ended up breaking to pieces as well.

      • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

        I would lower the heat or add more water if I were you. My stove has 4 burners, each a different size and different level of heat. If I use the largest one, it will probably happen to me, too. The reason I use the medium sized burner in the video is that I think most people’s stove has the same level of heat as that one. Update me please. Happy cooking!

  26. Reinier Rotterdam, The Netherlands joined 2/09 & has 101 comments

    Yes yes yes! This dish is awesome, i hope many people will cook it, it’s an instant classic!
    I expected a few drops of sesame oil right before serving :) :) :-p

  27. charliesommers Nashville, Tn. joined 4/10 & has 12 comments

    I fell in love with mackerel many years ago. In Japan and Alabama both I was able to purchase them fresh. I know what a great combination mackerel and radish are because I have grilled many a mackerel and topped it with grated radish and soy sauce Japanese style.

    I am going to my local Asian market tomorrow or the next day and plan on buying some frozen mackerel so I can try your delicious looking recipe. I think I can impress my Japanese wife with my cooking ability if I follow your recipe.

    Thank you!

  28. Soju123 New York, NY joined 3/11 & has 21 comments

    Oh yummy! I’ve only cooked this with canned mackerel before. I will have to try it with fresh mackerel soon. I felt like I could smell the food through your video!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments

      yes, the recipe made with canned mackerel is a little different from this recipe. I will post the recipe someday. “I could smell the food through your video” Sniff sniff, it sounds like you already know what the smell is supposed to be!

  29. soko2usa Minnesota joined 4/09 & has 55 comments

    Oh my gosh! I have LOVED mackerel ever since your godeungeo gui video, I can’t wait to try this! I can’t help myself and name my mackerels Mike when I buy them. I love their pretty blue stripes.

    I also wave at you every time I see you in your videos when you say hello everybody and bye bye! I’ll have to get to the store that sells mackerels soon. When you sliced your pretty white radish I wanted to taste it so bad!

    Thank you for your videos!
    Kerri

  30. vb38 joined 7/10 & has 36 comments

    OMIGOD!!!!! This is absolutely one of my most favourite dish! I could eat this everyday!!!

Leave a Reply

You must create a profile and be logged in to post a comment.