Braised black beans

Geomeun-kongjorim 검은콩조림

Braised black beans (geomeun-kongjorim) is a popular and easy side dish. Sweet and a little nutty, it goes well with beer, but usually we serve it with rice. Korean housewives make it on a regular basis and keep it in the fridge so it’s available any time, because children love it. There’s plenty of research that says black beans are good for you, but the main reason to make it is that it tastes delicious. You probably saw it for sale at the Korean grocery store premade, but now you can make it yourself!

Ingredients

Makes about 3 cups’ worth.

8 ounces dried black beans with green kernels (about 1⅓ cup), washed and soaked in cold water for 10 hours
2½ cups bean soaked water (or just water)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
¼ cup brown or white sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup rice syrup (or 2 tablespoons sugar)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions

After soaking for 10 hours, the beans will have expanded to about 3 cups. Drain the beans but keep the water that they were soaking in. Add the beans and 2½ cups of the bean soaked water (or just cold water) to a heavy bottomed pot.
Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. About 7 minutes into the cooking it will boil over with lots of foam on the surface. Skim off the foam and crack the lid halfway open.
Continue cooking the beans for another 20 to 25 minutes, until the beans are tender. Taste a sample and if it’s too chewy, add more water and cook longer until the beans are very soft.
Add garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and vegetable oil. Stir a few times and turn down the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the beans are infused with the seasonings.
Add the rice syrup and turn up the heat to medium high. Cook for another 10 minutes, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon. At this point, the beans and seasoning sauce will get shiny and a little sticky. Don’t overcook and be sure to leave some of the seasoning sauce so that the beans are well coated.
Remove from the heat and stir in sesame oil and sesame seeds. Serve as a side dish for rice or beer. You can refrigerate it for up to 1 month.

Posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2018 at 4:45 am.
Tagged: Braised black beans, 검은콩조림, Geomeun-kongjorim, 서리태 콩조림, Korean bean side dish, Korean braised beans, Korean vegetarian side dish, seoritae-kongjorim, sweet salty black beans, vegan

13 Comments:

vvcosta United States joined 6/16 & has 6 comments
Posted March 6th, 2021 at 9:53 pm | Log in to reply.

I recently moved out by myself and wanted to make some side dishes that I could keep for a long time and still eat healthy. This one was perfect! I ended up using corn syrup instead of rice syrup but it still turned out delicious!

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Christoph Sweden joined 11/20 & has 1 comment
Posted November 20th, 2020 at 8:48 am | Log in to reply.

Hi,
can you use black beans in Bibimbap?

If so, do you prepare it the same way as here?
lemons Chicago, IL, USA joined 3/20 & has 5 comments
Posted July 22nd, 2020 at 7:46 pm | Log in to reply.

Dear Maangchi, thank you so much for the delicious recipe. I made this for dinner tonight, and although it came out a little less shiny than yours did, it’s still wonderful! I’ll try to do it better next time, when I can pick up some rice syrup. I had it with your oi-muchim recipe also, plus some leftover cabbage salad I had. So nice to sit out on the porch and eat!

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Mochiandra The Hague joined 6/18 & has 1 comment
Posted June 1st, 2018 at 7:42 pm | Log in to reply.

I am cooking them tomorrow. After putting in the fridge….should I eat them cold? Or should I warn them up in, the pan?
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
  Posted June 2nd, 2018 at 3:06 am | Log in to reply.
  
  You don’t have to reheat the beans and just eat them cold.
sunnylightmode BC, Canada joined 2/17 & has 2 comments
Posted May 18th, 2018 at 3:34 am | Log in to reply.

Great recipe!! I made a batch for my breakfasts this week and it kept me full and gave me lots of energy for school. I like how it’s quite sweet so it balances out other spicy/salty banchan really well. I also tossed some into my bibimbap for dinner and I even still have enough for next weeks breakfasts :D
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
  Posted June 2nd, 2018 at 3:07 am | Log in to reply.
  
  All you said is very right! “I like how it’s quite sweet so it balances out other spicy/salty banchan really well. ” I agree with you.
Lynnjamin New York joined 11/14 & has 31 comments
Posted May 13th, 2018 at 12:16 am | Log in to reply.

Every time I tried to make these, the beans would taste uncooked. Now I know to soak them for TWELVE hours! Thank you so much!
- Karazuma United Kingdom joined 1/15 & has 3 comments
  Posted November 7th, 2018 at 5:01 am | Log in to reply.
  
  Same thing happened to me. Don’t really enjoy eating beans al dente (lol) so I will soak them for 12h next time. Thanks for the tip.
Cornelius B. Ecuador joined 12/17 & has 42 comments
Posted May 12th, 2018 at 9:25 pm | Log in to reply.

Maangchi: I agree that you cannot eat money, but with money you can buy black beans (and other stuff) to eat… :)) Went shopping to my Korean grocery store in Quito yesterday (Seoul Market), and spent 60 bucks on ingredients…
Unorthodoxpeach Georgia, usa joined 7/17 & has 2 comments
Posted May 10th, 2018 at 6:26 pm | Log in to reply.

Made this although I couldn’t find the black beans with green kernels. It is so delicious 감사합니다

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- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
  Posted June 2nd, 2018 at 3:08 am | Log in to reply.
  
  Great!
stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
Posted May 8th, 2018 at 9:24 pm | Log in to reply.

Maangchi: It looks delicious! And you wore your black bean top to make black beans! Cute!

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Braised black beans
Korean name: 검은콩조림
Romanized: Geomeun-kongjorim

Categories: preserved side dish, side dish
Made with: black beans with green kernels, brown sugar, garlic, rice syrup, soy sauce, sugar, toasted sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, vegetable oil, water, white sugar,