Today I’m going to show you a simple and authentic Korean side dish made with bok choy. Bok choy is easily available at many grocery stores in the USA, although in Korea I would use napa cabbage or sweet potato stems instead.
When bok choy is blanched and then seasoned with this tremendously delicious seasoning mix, it’s soft, juicy, a little cripsy, and takes on a sweet, salty, pungent doenjang flavor. Whenever I taste it, I can’t help but say: “Umm~ delicious delicious!”
Ingredients
- 1 pound bok choy
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 green onion, minced
- 2 tablespoons doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
- 2 teaspoons gochujang (hot pepper paste)
- a pinch of sugar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Directions
- Cut off the ends of each bunch of bok choy and separate the leaves from the stalks. Cut into bite size pieces.
- Bring a large pot of water into a boil. Blanch the bok choy for about 1 or 2 minutes until the white stems soften.
- Strain and rinse in cold water to remove any dirt and stop them from cooking. Strain.
- Combine garlic, green onion, doenjang, gochujang, sugar, and toasted sesame oil in a bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon.
- Squeeze out the bok choy to remove excess water and add to the bowl. Mix it well by hand.
- Sprinkle with crispy sesame seeds and serve immediately as a side dish for rice. You can refrigerate it up to 2 days.
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 for that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
The two hardest parts of this recipe were 1) waiting for the water to boil and 2) not devouring everything in one go. My wife and I were looking for a nice veggie side for our weekend meals (gyudon this week) and this hit the mark 100%. We’ve both loved bok choy and this blew my exceptions away with the ease and depth of flavor. Now to convince her to let me make a large batch, some other veggie and a good protein that holds up well cold so that weekday dinners become make rice and serve…
Wanted to add more genuinely good vegetable side dishes into my cooking repertoire, since I don’t have that many – so I tried this one out the other day, and it was sooo good, and so easy. Only difference from the recipe is I had to blanch the bok choy for an extra minute or two before the stems softened for me. Will definitely add this to my rotation!
It sounds good to me! Happy cooking!
I made this with yachae (yu choy or choy sum in Chinese). There’s something about this vegetable that goes especially well with the sauce (earthiness, bitterness ?). It tasted the best right after I made it. Later that night, was maybe 80% as good.
Another side dish I made today. Thank you
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Hi Maangchi! :D
I made nappa cabbage kimchi, your cubed radish kimchi, and recently also your cucumber kimchi – I love them all.
However I also made this recipe, and I don’t like it because I really don’t like the taste of the joenjang paste! :(
I think it could be the brand. Is there a higher quality alternative to the joenjang produced by Sempio?
Thank you!
Cheers!
Made this tonight with matang, barley rice, dubu soaked in makkolli and tamari, and tongbaechu kimchi and oisobagi as my kimchi. My family loved it, and the quick prep time let me get a little fancy!
Thank you again Maangchi!!!
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Wow, what a feast! You made even makgeolli!
Hello Maangchi, how are you…
Well, I made your Bok Choy Doenjang Muchim and it is sooo goood and so easy, I am glad I say the video, since I was so surprised at how much water you have to squeeze from the Bok Choy… but I did and it came our perfect… I just love it!
I can see that the ingredients lend themselves to several variations of which I will try in the future, for example: I think black bean garlic paste in addition to the bean paste would be a good variation and/or adding a raw seafood, like Tiger Shrimp or Ahi Tuna as another.
Second, I live in Los Angeles and enjoy Korean food more as a special night out with friends, but let me ask a question about a favorite Korean dish that I am just addicted too from a Restaurant her in Los Angeles:
Restaurant: Sun nong dan, https://www.sunnongdan.com/,
Dish: 통마늘 양.곱창 볶음 炒大蒜，腸和牛肚 (Stir-fried Garlic + Honeycomb +Tripe),
Is this a traditional Korean Dish or an LA Creation and have you ever eaten or prepared it? And if yes or no it does not matter, can you research it and make a video for this dish?
In any event… I have been watching your videos for a couple months now and your presentation in your videos have completely refined my Asian food prep and cooking technique, which were pretty good, but twice the overall time for cooking the food (technique)… maybe you should do a video specifically to cooking technique.
So Maangchi, this is my first comments to your videos and I want to tell you that I really enjoy your personal presentation as your Korean style of gentleness with respect for your viewers… no wonder your viewers have such wonderful comments to make about you!!
Tried this recipe tonight. I substituted sugar to honey instead… this dish is so addicting. :) thanks maangchi for sharing this :) i love your recipes started trying to mAke every side dish you post :)
I made this today and it was awesome! I didn’t change a thing.
My wife can be iffy on some of the Korean recipes I make, but not this one. All gone.
Thank you Maangchi!
Hello~!
Do you have the kimchi version of the bok choy recipe? Tried it recently and it was soooooo delicious. I really want to try to re-create. Going to do this one as well. Thank you!!!
I know this sounds absolutely crazy… but….
My mom gave me a some canned green beans she got on sale because she had too much to use. I normally cannot stand canned vegetables of any kind but decided to make green bean doenjang muchim. I just drained 2 cans of green beans. I didnt cook them. I used this recipe, but with 1 TBSP rice syrup instead of the pinch of sugar. I also used more sesame oil and more toasted sesame seeds than this recipe called for because I love them…
Talk about delicious! It reminded me of asparagus when prepared this way. I’m thinking of other things to make doenjang muchim with… Thanks Mom! And Maangchi! LOL!
Thank you so much for another great recipe! I have married into a Korean family and I was so intimidated to try to cook Korean food because it always seemed so complicated. However, your videos and instructions have made me adventurous! My husband is so happy to see food from his childhood and my in laws can’t wait to visit to see what I have whipped up!
I made this tonight and it was simply delicious. I had to stop myself from “tasting” the whole bowl before dinner! Yum!
“My husband is so happy to see food from his childhood and my in laws can’t wait to visit to see what I have whipped up!” I’m sure your in laws will be very proud of you when they taste your dishes!
안녕하세요!
I’ve been wanting to try this bok choy since forever. The way you make it looks so delicious. In my area, we don’t have many Korean grocery stores here. There’s maybe one or two, but there isn’t a Korean supermarket near here. Did you get the bok choy from a Korean grocery store, or did you buy it from a regular grocery store? My mom and I (I’ve been bugging her about the bok choy for weeks) went to our regular supermarket, and they had the bok choy, but it was white and green, instead of all green – like yours. Please help me! D: I really want to make your side dishes; they look so yummy! Like the 김치순두부찌개, 시금치나물, and the 청경채 된장무침. Having them altogether would be absolutely fantastic! Please give me any suggestions! Do I need to go to a Korean supermarket, or do regular grocery stores sell it? I’m dying to know! 고맙습니다!
~SleepyPanda
And also, I just wanted to say thank you for cooking for us. I’m not one to eat vegetables (I’m a very picky eater), but you’ve encouraged me to eat more, and I thank you for that. You’re a wonderful and magnificent cook, Maangchi, and I couldn’t ask for a better chef. <3
감사합니다… = D
~SleepyPanda
These are sweet purple potatoes cooked steamed, baked eel and your salad perfect fit for this dish.
Made this today , I love your recipes as they are all very tasty. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes!Can you share the recipes for purple sweet potatoes, I love to eat them.
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It looks very tasty!
Made this today as a side dish to the Bulgogi and Ssamjang I made today using your recipes and they turned out awesome!
I love your recipes as they are all very tasty. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes!
Great news! Happy cooking!
I made it and it came out really good, I will definitely make it again. TASTY!!!
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Yeah, I make this side dish very often. Delicious and healthy!
I tried this tonight and its so easy to do and very delicious … and my family loved it! Thank you maangchi for sharing this recipes and more power! Will try the Eggplant sidedish
Gaji-namul 가지나물 next! More power!
Oh, forgot to share the pics … here you go! Many thanks again !
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Thank you for sharing the photo! It looks very delicious!
i sooo love this recipe.me and my friend we’re avid fans of korean cooking nd of Maangchi!…i will absolutely use this recipe again! thanks maangchi!
Dear Maangchi,
I made your receipe for the bok choy seasoned with soybean paste. I was soooo gooood!!! Then I made the soft tofu stew all I can say is THANK YOU!!!! *SMOOCHES*
I am ashamed to say that my Husband and I had it for lunch while our kids were at school….hehehe our little secret!!
Thank you for sharing the cute story! You can make it again for your children. :)
Hello i really like your recipes. I just google for korean recipes and the one i always like is yours. I want to open a blog in Mongolian to share my cooking and my experience with a baby. Can i translate your recipes and share it with people who do not know english? Everytime i get a recipe from you i will leave your link just in case they want to see the video
Thank you for this recipe. Even my son who claims to hate vegetables loved it and asked for seconds.
I’m happy to hear that your son loved it!
Maangchi I made this recipe but I used miso paste instead of doenjang. Do you think the taste is very different from yours made with doenjang?
Also, I squeezed out a lot of water but when I was eating this bok choy, a lot of water comes out when I chew it. Is that normal or should I have squeezed more water out?
Thanks!!
(here are my photos of this recipe: http://imgur.com/a/mCKUL)
” a lot of water comes out..” Yes, it’s very normal.
I love this recipe, as a vegetarian it brought flavor to the meal and paired well with rice. I used baby bok choy as I couldn’t find the big version. It was still very good and I made this twice! Thanks so much maangchi!
I tried this recipe and it was delicious. However, how long is it good for in the fridge?
You can refrigerate it up to 2 days.
I love bok choy , the sauce looks so yummy !! I supposed if i used napa cabbage , i have to go through the same method ? just blanch it and squeeze like bok choy ? My family loves bok choy , and i usually just sauteed the bok choy with garlic and onion , i think this is a great alternative in serving bok choy . Thanks Maangchi !
Oh my goodness, this is good! It is amazing: complex flavors, great texture. Wow – a home run and touchdown in one. Great recipe, Maangchi!
Hi, where did your mom buy that rice cooker? I want one
I looked it up on the internet for you. It’s from Livart. http://www.shoplivart.com/mini-rice-cooker.html
this one looks easy. I will try it :)
안녕하세요 마앙치!
I love trying out your recipes :) Today I made a whole meal with 청경채 된장무침, 육개장, 파전, and 호떡 for dessert. Everything was really delicious!
감사합니다 :)
Great! Happy cooking!