Doenjangjjigae is the most common stew in Korea. I would say most Koreans have it 2-3 times a week at least, but I am not one of them. 
It is a such a simple meal to cook, but it is hard to make the deep taste like my mother does. Though I think I am getting better.
Ingredients for 2 people
(Expected Preparation time – 5 minutes, Cooking time – 8 to 10 minutes)
- 1/3 a 235g tofu
- 1/2 a small size onion
- 1/5 a zucchini
- 3 shiitake mushrooms
- 1 small size potato
- 1/2 green chili
- 1/2 red chili
- Minced garlic – 1/4 tsp
- Anchovy powder – 1tsp
- Soybean Paste (Doenjang in Korean) – 1 tbsp
- Water 350ml
Preparation
- Cut the tofu into medium size cubes.
- Thin slice the zucchini and cut it into quarter moons.
- Thin slice the potato and cut the slices in half.
- Thin slice the onion and mushrooms.
- Make a long cut in the middle of the chili and wash out the seeds in cold water (Make sure you don’t touch them. Scrub it out with spoon or knife, if it is necessary. It makes you sting all night if you touch the seeds.) Then thin slice it.
Cooking
- Pour the water into a pot.
- Add the anchovy powder and soybean paste. Dilute the soybean paste in the water. (I like to do this before the water boils, because it gets too hot to dilute near the heat later.)
- Boil it.
- Add the zucchini and potato. Boil it until 90% of them cook. (It takes about 2-3 minutes.)
- Add the onion, mushrooms, and tofu. Boil it for about 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic and chilies. Boil it for 1 minute.
- Serve it.
- You can scoop it out into the bowl or share the meal from the pot with other people.
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As the weather gets colder, soup gains popularity as a side meal, or as a drink snack with Korean wisky “soju”. “Eomuk” means fish cake and “Guk” means soup in Korean. I used fish cake on a stick, which is about 1 dollar more expensive than square fish cake, because it looks fancy, so it seems tastier.
The fish cake package I bought had a pack of powder sauce, so you can use it to make the soup. But I didn’t want to use it, even if it could be tastier than my recipe, because it will have lots of chemicals. Though it is your choice.
One thing you need to be careful about when you have soup is not to burn your tongue. I burnt my tongue and the ceiling of my mouth yesterday, it still hurts me.
Ingredients for 3 people
(Expected preparation time – 3 minutes, Cooking time – 10-15 minutes)
- Fish cakes (3 sticks – You can use square sheets of fish cake as well)
- Radish 1/6
- Spring onion 1/2 stalk
- Onion 1/4
- Water 4 and 1/2 cups
- Soy sauce 1tbsp and 1tsp
- Refined rice wine 1 tsp
- Salt 2 sprinkles (you can add more as needed.)
- Pepper 2 sprinkles
- Kelp powder 1 tsp
- Anchovy powder 1/2 tsp
Preparation
- Thin slice the onion.
- Cut the radish into thin small squares.
- Cut the spring onion.
Cooking
- Put the water into a pot. Boil it.
- Add the kelp and anchovy powder in the pot.
- When the water starts to boil, add the radish.
- When the radish is nearly cooked, add the onion.
- Boil it for a minute then add the fish cake, rice wine, and soy sauce.
- Boil it for about 3 minutes then add the salt, pepper and spring onion.
- Boil it for one minute.
- Serve it in a bowl.
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Spicy Chicken & Vegetable Stew (Dak doritang in Korean?)
Apparently “Dak doritang” isn’t standard Korean language. Dori means chicken or bird in Japanese, Dak means chicken in Korean. Therefore Dak doritang means chicken chicken stew.
In recent years, Koreans have been trying to get rid of Japanese words that are still around in Korean culture from the colonial era. There are still lots of people who say dak doritang instead of the correct word. As you know, it is hard to change once things become your habit. Anyhow, its official name is “Dak bokkumtang” or “Dak maeuntang”.
Most people use one whole chicken for this meal. But I didn’t want to fiddle with bones and skin, so I used chicken breast instead. It is a spicy meal (but I used half less spice than other common recipes) though you can’t imagine how delicious it was.
Ingredients for 4 people
-For meat and marinating
- Chicken breast 5 pieces (About 500g)
- Pepper 2 sprinkles
- Ginger powder 2 sprinkles
- Refined rice wine -2 tbsp
-For vegetables
- 4 medium potatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 12 sesame leaves
-For sauce (mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl, except water.)
- Gochujang -2 tbsp
- Chili powder -1/4 tsp
- Soy sauce -1 tbsp
- Sugar -2 tsp
- Corn syrup or sugar cane syrup-2 tsp
- 1 squashed garlic
- 1 dash of sesame oil
- 2 cups of water
Preparation
- Rinse the chicken in cold water and cut it into medium to big pieces.
- Marinate it with pepper, ginger powder and refined rice wine. (for about 15 minutes)
- Rinse the vegetables and peel them as needed.
- Cut the potatoes, carrot and onion into big pieces. (I cut each of them into 4 pieces and 8 for the carrot.)
- Slice the sesame leaves.
Cooking
- Pre heat the wok.
- Put some oil into the wok.
- Put some potatoes and carrots into the wok and stir it for a while.
- Pour the water into the wok.
- Add the chicken and onion, then stir it a bit. Add the sauce.
- Stir. Boil it until everything is cooked.
- When it is ready, add the sesame leaves. Then boil for a very short time.
8. Serve it on the plate.
Most people have this meal with some rice. I recommend you to do the same thing, otherwise it might be too spicy for you. Most people share the food from the same plate and have their rice separate.
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