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!
Thanks,jon!
What 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?
Hi,
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.
Hello 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
ginger,
Thanks 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.
hi,agasuka,
I 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.
Agasuka,
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 : )
This 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
Hi,vince
ok, 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?
Agasuka,
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. : )
Hi 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!
Hi,tumuon,
The 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 !!
Hi 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?
I 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
Cindy,
Good 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,
“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!
i’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…
the 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
I made the korean style mixed green salad with cucumber, carrot and onion.
Agasuka,
You 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?
Cool!
Yes, I posted them on my site, on the side! You encourage a lot of people.
Hi Maangchi,
I’m planning on making this doenjang chigae, does it matter if I use firm or soft tofu? Thank you!
– Melissa
Melissa
Actually 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!!!
[...] DoenJang Chigae (bean paste, tofu, and vegetable stew) [...]
hi Maangchi.can i use smallest anchovies for this recipe ?
Jenny,
I 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.
: ) Good luck with your making doenjang chigae tonight.
Hey 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!
Moon,
ooh 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! :)
meileng,
Give 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!:)
meileng,
haha,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
Portugalbear,
Thank 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?
Portugalbear,
I’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^^
I 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
rona,
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!
Hello Maangchi!
Thank you for your amazing recipes and videos!
My boyfriend and I love watching your videos.
Thanks for sharing this great Korean food!
Rachel,
You’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
poohbear,
Yes, 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.
=)
hellaOAKLAND,
Thanks, 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.
Rayfil Wong,
Yayee, you save your money which means you make money! : )
Hi Maangchi, Thanks so much for creating this website. For the doenjang jjigae, is it fine to substitute the shrimp and anchovies with pork?
Also, I couldn’t find dried anchovies but my friend gave me an Instant Soup Stock Powder (Anchovy flavor). Is that okay and how much should I put in?
Thanks,
Fred
Fred,
oh, some people use beef in doenjangjjigae, but I have never heard that pork is used. Yes, you can use the anchovy flavor stock powder. Maybe 1 tbs?
Dear Maangchi,
I have been watching your cooking videos for quite some time now, but never left a message. I thought it was about time now.
I just want to say that I LOVE your videos, the recipes, the food!!!!!
Korean food has been my favorite ever since I first ate it (that was in 2001). I have been to Korea and I lived in China for some years. I always went to the Korean restaurants!!! Hahaha.
I am from Holland and here are only very few Korean restaurants, so I have to cook myself! But cooking is a great hobby of mine, so no problem at all.
Only problem: no kimchi here…and also Asian chives are hard to find. Sometimes when I go to Amsterdam, I buy a lot of Korean stuff to keep in stock!
OK, thank you and now I’m off to the Asian supermarket for ingredients!
Femke
Maangchi, I blogged about you today. Thanks for all your great recipes. I’ll be making this one tonight ;-)Keep up the wonderful work!
PS- check out my blog :-) http://restaurantofthemonth.wordpress.com/
Femke from Holland,
wow, since 2001, korean food has been your favorite!
It sounds like you used to travel everywhere!
If you can’t find Asian chives, replace it with green onions. That’s what I’m doing. I made “stuffed cucumber kimchi(oisobagi)”yesterday with green onions. It is still delicious.
Let me know how your korean cooking turns out later.
Maya,
I visited your site and I’m very happy to read it.
Thank you very much for your encouraging post about me! ooh~ my self-esteem goes up and up thanks to you! lol
Are anchovies neccessary for all korean stews or soups?
Anonymous,
I don’t think so. Some people make stock using beef or chicken. I like dried anchovy stock better
I’m so glad I found this recipe!!
I couldn’t decide between making Japanese Curry or 된장찌개(Spelling?)
I was just putting veggies in a pot and decided to look it up.
I was saved in the nick of time and was able to make my boyfriends favourite stew/soup.
But the thing is, I used snow peas, corn and chicken because originally I was going to make curry.
Thank you so much!!
(btw - My boyfriend is Korean)
kathleen,
Your bf is lucky to have you! I am sure he will love your food.
Maangchi,
I made this last night for dinner after school. My husband made seafood pajun. We had a GREAT dinner! Thank you for taking the time to make these cooking videos…I am confident in making Korean food, as long as I have internet access ^__^
God bless u!
i just love yur recipes!!
by the way, when u make rice, do u have to put barely?
melon,
Your line “I’m confident in making Korean food…” makes me happy this morning!
Yuna,
no, you don’t have to use barley if you don’t like it or if it’s not available.
But barley rice really goes with this stew (doenjang jjigae).
thankks for sharing
I used this 된장찌개 recipe and it turned out fabulous. DoenJang JiiGae is such a nutritious and hearty meal when served with bori-bap (rice and barley cooked together). I did not have hot green chili peppers on hand, but made up for that with chopped green pepper (for color and texture) and additional red hot chili pepper flakes and powder. I’ve been told that it’s best with additional KoJu Jang (red pepper paste). I also added bite-sized pieces of turnip and eggplant. When ‘market day’ falls on a Sunday in Uiseong, Gyeongsan Buk-do, there’s a line-up to get the Bori-Bap at a shop run by the dearest Hal-Ma-Nee in the land. She served up a dish of fish and radish as hot and delicious as you can possibly imagine. Turnips are a little bitter compared to Mu (radish), but I cooked them separately for a short while, in just a pinch of sugar, and it seemed to help. Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I’ll be checking again for any eggplant recipes you post! Thank you!
Vicky,
While reading your description about the barley bibimbap, my mouth waters! : )
oh, you are living in Korea now. That’s nice! You can learn Korean cooking very easily because all ingredients that I use are accessible there.
By the way, my gajinamul (eggplant side dish) recipe has been posted. http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/gaji-namul
Maangchi,
I made this yesterday for dinner and loved it. I added some Gochujang and did not make the salad as I cannot digest raw salad. It was delicious. I am an Indian who lives in Chicago. Thanks for your great videos. I am enjoying korean cuisine at home, Thanks to you.
Samita
samita,
wonderful! I sometimes add hot pepper paste (gochujang) to it, too! Thank you for letting me know about your successful Korean cooking!
hello ms maangchi!
i really love your cooking videos! you know, you’re the perfect solution to my problem. i was very glad the time i found your site when i was desperately surfed the net several months ago. your recipes are actually simple and are easy to follow but absolutely perfect! by the way, i’m from philippines and my husband is a korean. the moment i found this site,i immediately made one of your recipes (육개장 as i remember).and the result was amazingly great!i was very happy to hear my husband’s praises and he looked very satisfied…for the first time!:)so,thanks a lot to you!although i didn’t hear him complaining about my cooking before but obviously, i never seen him satisfied. i would say that he’s never been satisfied until i found your site…:)so since then, i can’t cook without your recipes. i also informed all my foreign friends about this site. really helps a lot! you’re truly a blessing to me! thank you very much once again!
hi ms maangchi! i forgot to ask you,can i replace fresh shrimps with shrimp paste? because there are times that i’m running out of fresh shrimps and just skip it. but still tastes good. thanks!
Anonymous,
Thank you for your interest in my recipes and welcome to my website! I’m glad to hear that your husband was satisfied with your cooking! : )
Anyway, I recommend using fresh shrimp or clams.
Thank you!
Whenever your recipes call for those little dried sardines that you use when making stews and soups, is it just as good to use the powered form when they sell at the Korean market? What’s the difference and when do you use it or not?
Thanks,
Marilyn
yes, using dried anchovies instead of dashi powder for stock will give the soup better taste.
I bought a large quantity of dried and ground anchovies in a Farmer’s Co-op in Andong. I’m down to the last small portion of that. It’s a great addition to soups and stew, but use it sparingly!
Thank you for the comeback with the eggplant recipe. I wrote it down and I’m going to try it soon.
wonderful! Let me know how your eggplant side dish turns out!
hi maangchi, this is the first time i’ve tried this recipe (with some alterations) and it turned out wonderfully! it’s a very simple soup to make and it’s still yummy. i made it soon after my family finished eating up the gamjatang. thank you again! :)
Congratulation! You make me curious about your recipe alterations.