Korean recipes:
Doenjang jjigae (bean paste vegetable stew)
Korean Tofu stew, or “doenjang chigae,” is made with vegetables, tofu, and bean paste. It’s Koreans’ everyday house food. We eat it with other side dishes and rice, but sometimes, especially in the southern part of Korea, we eat this stew with barley rice, vegetable salad, and hot pepper paste all mixed together. This is the style I’m going to teach you to make today.
Deon Jang Chigae
(Bean paste and vegetable stew)
Ingredients:
- 1 medium size potato
- a zucchini or a squash
- 1 medium size onion
- garlic
- 1 green chili pepper
- 7 dried anchovies
- 1 green onion
- 100-150 grams of tofu
- soy bean paste (doen jang)
- 4 shrimp
Almost all Koreans love this food, and I think you will, too!
- Prepare a ceramic pot to put all the ingredients in.
- Peel the potato, cut it into 2 cups worth of cubes, and put them into the pot .
- Cut zucchini into 2 cups worth of cubes, and put them into the pot.
- Cut your onion into chunks, and put them into the pot.
- Slice your green chili pepper, and put it into the pot.
- Prepare 7 large dried anchovies by removing their heads and intestines, chop them up, and put them into the pot.
- Chop up 4 shrimp and put them into the pot.
- Mince 5 cloves of garlic and put it into the pot.
- Your pot will now be 2/3 full with your ingredients.
- Submerge everything in water and cook it over high heat.
*tip: Don’t put too much water, just enough to cover everything - When it starts boiling, add 4-6 tbs of bean paste, stir the stew, and keep cooking
- When the stew is sizzling and all ingredients are cooked, cut your tofu into cubes, chop up 1 green onion, and add them to the stew.
- Occasionally stir the boiling stew with a spoon.
- Serve it with a bowl of rice and other side dishes.
*tip: to check whether or not the ingredients are cooked, taste the potato.
Korean style mixed green salad
Ingredients: a big bowl of mixed greens (you can replace it with lettuce), cucumber, 1 green onion, 1 clove of garlic, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds
- Wash a big bowl of mixed greens (5-6 cups) and drain it. If you use lettuce, tear it up into bite sized pieces.
- Slice cucumber thinly (cut cucumber in half in length first, and slice it diagonally) and add it into the bowl.
- Make the sauce by mixing up 3 tbs of soy sauce, 1 tbs of hot pepper flakes, 1 ts of sugar, and ½ tbs of sesame seeds and 1tbs of sesame oil
- Mix the vegetables with the sauce
- Transfer the salad to a glass bowl or a big plate and serve it
Serving it all together:
In a big bowl, place rice first, then add a scoop of doen jang jjigae and the vegetable salad (“gutgeorie”). Mix in some hot pepper paste and sesame oil. Wow, it’ll be delicious! : )
Wow, thanks, this blog is a great contribution to Korean cooking. Thanks!
July 15th, 2007 at 4:55 pmThanks,jon!
July 15th, 2007 at 8:39 pmWhat a simple soup! I can’t wait to try it =)
I’m curious though, what’s the name of the bean paste you put in the soup? Is that the same type of bean paste that they give you at Korean BBQ restaurants?
July 16th, 2007 at 11:19 pmHi,
Check out this website. One of my youtube readers made this stew by my instruction. It looks delicious and I think she added some hotpepper paste there.
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=54
as you know, youtube doesn’t allow us to write website addresses in comments, that’s why I’m posting here.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:06 amHello again! I just wanted to report that I’ve made this soup about 5 times now in the last 2 weeks!! It’s so simple! I started to add a small spoon of chili paste and I can’t believe how similar it tastes to the Korean restaurants! Maangchi this recipe is a definite keeper! Thank you for sharing your skills and recipe with all of us!! ^_^
PS I never thought I’d cook with dried anchovies! LOL
August 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pmginger,
August 5th, 2007 at 11:52 pmThanks for sharing your successful cooking story with us.
Yeah, it’s very easy recipe. All koreans love this food.
How many pot of Deon Jang Chigae can you make with one can of gas? Thanks.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:35 pmhi,agasuka,
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:07 pmI am not sure, but I think you can make more than 3 pots of Doenjaang chigae with one canister.
May I confirm the ingredients & steps for making barley rice:
1 c. uncooked rice
1 c. barley
4 1/2c. water
Mix them all and heat them up until boiling.
Simmer for 20 min.
Turn off stove.
Let it sit for 10 min.
Please correct me if I make any mistakes. Thanks.
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:13 pmAgasuka,
Here is recipe for rice
ingredients:
1 cup of uncooked rice, 1 cup of barley rice and 2.5 cup of water
1.Rinse the mixture of rice and
barley in a pot.
2.Put 2.5 cup of water and cover
the lid of the pot.
3.Heat it over high heat until it
boils, and stir it with a
spoon a few times.
4. Simmer about 20 minutes over
low heat
That’s it! Good luck : )
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 pmThis looks really delicious, im going to try and make it next week, i hope in the future you will post up a recipe for soon dubu chigae
December 14th, 2007 at 1:29 amHi,vince
December 14th, 2007 at 8:31 amok, Soondooboo!
Thank you very much. Next week when you make this dish, let me know how it goes.
There are several kinds of barley available in the supermarket.
Big particles, small particles, round like a marble, and pressed barley. I bought the pressed kind.
I have not had a chance to cook it yet, I will report to you after making it in the future.
I like barley tea (Bo Ri Cha), I expect a similar taste from barley rice.
Question: Can I use a rice cooker instead of the stove to make barley rice?
December 18th, 2007 at 8:28 pmAgasuka,
Good choice! I would choose small grains of barley or the one you chose, pressed one. By the way, don’t expect “Boricha” flavor from barley rice. : )
December 18th, 2007 at 10:29 pmHi Maangchi,
Love your recipes.
Some of the rice I eat at Korean restaurants around here has a little bit of purple grain in addition to the rice and barley. Do you know what might that be? Any idea how to cook it in a rice cooker?
Thanks!
January 19th, 2008 at 8:31 pmHi,tumuon,
January 20th, 2008 at 7:55 amThe purple grain rice is a kind of sweet rice. When you make multi-grain rice(barley,rice, and sweet rice) using a rice cooker, make it like the usual way of making rice.
Hi Maangchi,
thanks for all of the great videos on youtube. i tried leaving a comment on your video on youtube, but they didn’t show up for some reason.
i bought sagyegeol and sunchang ssamjang. (they just say bean paste in english) i was wondering if i could use those for the tofu soup? if not, could you tell me what they are for? thanks !!
January 25th, 2008 at 11:14 pmHi Maangchi,
Thanks for the answers. so you said that Ssamjang is for dipping. but are both sagyegeol and sunchang ssamjang the same thing? are they both Ssamjang?
January 27th, 2008 at 12:32 amI made this soup today.. It’s really simple and taste really nice. I love it so much. Can i request the barley tea for next video? I’m not sure whether that’s tea or not as it is a sweet and cool drink. I drink it in Korean restaurant. Very nice..
Cindy
January 27th, 2008 at 3:48 amCindy,
January 27th, 2008 at 9:02 amGood to hear that you made good Doenjaang chigae. Boricha(Burned barley tea) is so simple to make that I would not make video for it.
Buy a package of barley tea.
Pour water in a kettle and put some barley tea(about 1 or 2 TBS) and boil it. It’s drunk hot or cold. To drink cold, keep it in the refrigerator.
Thanks,
Hello,Orangerepublic,
January 27th, 2008 at 9:08 am“sagyejeol” means “Four seasons” in korean which is a brand name, and “Soonchang”(a town in Korea) is a brand name as well.
You should buy “Doenjaang”(bean paste)instead of Ssam Jjaang.
hi maangchi!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:44 ami’m from Romania and i”ve leaved in korea for 5 years!
i eat only korean food and i was amazing of your korean recipe you cokked on video…
i was wondering in wich part of korea you”re living cause your cooking style is very nice!i was living in koje^^aniong cial isoy!!
nhfeqrejg is my id…
May 10th, 2008 at 5:49 amthe girl from Romania
Hi,Romanian girl!
Sorry about late answer. I did not see yours for some reason.
I live in Toronto Canada, but I’m staying in Korea now. I used to live in the southern part of korea. I know Koje! It’s beautiful city. Thanks
May 10th, 2008 at 9:28 pmI made the korean style mixed green salad with cucumber, carrot and onion.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:26 pmAgasuka,
May 19th, 2008 at 12:08 amYou are an expert in Korean cooking now. : )
Here is the link to the post of the Korean style mixed green of my blog:
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/aga-suka/article?mid=294
Did you receive the picture of my salad?
May 19th, 2008 at 1:24 amCool!
Yes, I posted them on my site, on the side! You encourage a lot of people.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:15 amHi Maangchi,
May 31st, 2008 at 4:12 pmI’m planning on making this doenjang chigae, does it matter if I use firm or soft tofu? Thank you!
– Melissa
Melissa
May 31st, 2008 at 4:54 pmActually it doesn’t matter. You can use either soft tofu or firm tofu depending on your taste.
Hi Maangchi,
My family says I should leave you a message on how much we have been enjoying your recipes. My daughter absolutely loved your salad from doen jan chigae video. I have made so far doen jang chigae, yuk gae jang, vegetable jun (with successful flips), bibim naeng myeon which was fantastic, dduk bok kie, soon dubu chigae, bulgogi and bulgogi jungol. My children ask me if we are having “Maangchi dinner” and they love it.
I want to thank you for easy to follow great tasting recipes. Thank you, thank you and thank you!!!
July 5th, 2008 at 10:47 pm[...] DoenJang Chigae (bean paste, tofu, and vegetable stew) [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 3:17 pmhi Maangchi.can i use smallest anchovies for this recipe ?
September 1st, 2008 at 1:40 amJenny,
September 1st, 2008 at 8:36 amI think you should get large size of dried anchovies for good broth.
i am cooking this dish tonight for the first time. i am very excited! i am sure that it will be delicious.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 am: ) Good luck with your making doenjang chigae tonight.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:54 pmHey maangchi!
I made the doenjang chigae a few days ago and had it for dinner with my boyfriend.
turned out fabulous! he was surprised at how well it turned out hehe :-)
thank u!
September 26th, 2008 at 9:50 pmMoon,
September 26th, 2008 at 10:26 pmooh whoo! Congratulation!
Hi Maangchi, just to let you know that I’ve posted the dubu deonjang chigae and gye ran jjim which I made some time ago on my blog. I made some adjustments to the dish; I added some dried shrimps with the dried anchovies to give it a deeper flavour and I also tried with dried anchovies only- both times the stew tasted good! :) Since I couldn’t find deonjang here, I substituted with chinese minced bean paste-will the taste be very different? My friends loved the dish, so thanks Maangchi for the lovely recipe! :)
September 30th, 2008 at 10:18 ammeileng,
September 30th, 2008 at 5:26 pmGive me your blog address, please. I am going to post the address on my website. If the taste is good, it will be ok of course. Someday if you find Korean bean paste (doenjang), try it out. Thank you!
Hi Maangchi, my blog add. is http://www.meilengloh.com. My next mission : to find Korean bean paste!:)
September 30th, 2008 at 8:43 pmmeileng,
September 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pmhaha,I hope your mission is possible as soon as possible!
Hi Maangchi, can you show us how the bean paste here look like. the link in your recipe shows a picture of the sesame oil
October 6th, 2008 at 5:26 amPortugalbear,
October 6th, 2008 at 9:11 amThank you for pointing out the wrong directed hyper link. I fixed it now. I should check out all ingredients photos later when I’m not busy. Thanks again!
Hi Maangchi,
I finally found the anchovies and the bean paste and i’m ready to try this dish. my question is the potato used here regular potato or sweet potato similar to the ones used jjajang?
October 16th, 2008 at 3:32 amPortugalbear,
October 16th, 2008 at 6:50 amI’m glad you found the important ingredients for this recipe. Yes, use regular potato. Let me know how it turns out.
Hi it`s me again^^
October 27th, 2008 at 12:04 amI think i am pregnant^^ and i am craving for this daenjang chigae so i will cook it right away now!
Maangchi 언니~
된장찌개 맛있게 끓이는 비결을 가르쳐 주셔서 정말 감사합니다!
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. I just made it for dinner and my family loved it!
I made a slight variation to your recipe by adding 1/2 tsp of 고추장 (gochujang) and some white button mushrooms to it.
I look forward to trying more of your recipes. Please continue to teach us how to make more delicious Korean dishes! ㅋㅋ
신시아
November 30th, 2008 at 10:28 pmrona,
you are craving for this jjigae? Good! : )
Cynthia lee,
oh, you added a little bit of hot pepper paste? It’s a brilliant idea! I sometimes do the same thing.
Thank you!
December 1st, 2008 at 12:32 amHello Maangchi!
Thank you for your amazing recipes and videos!
My boyfriend and I love watching your videos.
Thanks for sharing this great Korean food!
December 1st, 2008 at 1:10 pmRachel,
December 1st, 2008 at 7:47 pmYou’re very welcome Rachel! Thank you very much!
hi, ive never seen doenjang jjigae eaten like that over rice & salad on top~! interesting…! can this be made with beef? how would i do it? just put in raw beef to the pot or cook it seperately? also, can gochujang be added to the soup too? thank you
December 12th, 2008 at 4:05 ampoohbear,
December 13th, 2008 at 7:51 pmYes, you can use beef. Chop it and use it instead of dried anchovies.
Hi Maangchi! I just watched your video and now I know why the doenjang jjigae I made earlier today wasn’t so great…I forgot anchovies! (or more like I didn’t have them). Anyway, just wanted to let u know that I found your site through my flickr stats. I saw that someone had a left a link on your comment area about my Korean school lunches. I’m glad I found your page!I’ve been back several times and will be returning again. I can’t wait to make doenjang jjigae again but with anchovies. Oh, thanks for sharing the salad recipe. I LOVE that salad dressing! can’t wait to make that too! Thanks for the video(s)! and keep up with the good work with your site.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:04 am=)
hellaOAKLAND,
December 18th, 2008 at 5:59 pmThanks, yes, several dried anchovies make the doenjang jjigae very tasty. I can’t make doenjang jjigae without dried anchovies. : )
Great show. I like that you explains things very well and in details. Living in San Francisco, the Korean food is expense averaging $20 per person.
You can really save us some money.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pmRayfil Wong,
December 19th, 2008 at 5:50 pmYayee, you save your money which means you make money! : )