The Classic Korean Movie 2003
Martez Fields
As I mention in the video, my mom used to make kimchi from 200 heads of cabbage! This was kimjang kimchi, made with her friends at the beginning of winter, and meant to last until the spring. 3 to 4 of her friends would come over and help her chop vegetables and most importantly, spread the paste on the leaves. This always needs to be done by hand. They would bring their own rubber gloves, and spend the day talking and laughing, and always had pollock stew or beef radish soup for lunch. They had a lot of fun!
My monthly letter to my readers includes my recipe roundup, funny and touching stories, upcoming events, reader comments and photos of what you guys are cooking! It's delivered the first day of every month.
If you want to make your kimchi juicier, salt the cabbage for a shorter time so it retains more moisture when you make it. Then your kimchi will have lots of brine. Alternatively, you can turn it over and press down the top with a wooden spoon after a day, and the brine will come up.
i have been making your kimchi a few times now and it always turns out great! however i tried making one yesterday and this batch of kimchi didnt not ferment(no bubbling or fizzing). would like to know if i should wait a few more days at room temperature to see if it ferments or is there any ingredients i can add to kick start the fermentation. also is it safe to be consumed if there are no fermentation?
just checked on the kimchi and it had started to ferment. on my previous batch of kimchi it usually takes only one night to start bubbling and fizzy. hence the reason why i started to worry it doesnt ferment only after one night. hopefully the kimchi turns out great! thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe maangchi!
My husband and I have been putting up batches of kimchi following your recipe for years. Often making Kimichi soup from it. It over the years has become our favorite comfort food. If have a cold or your not feeling your best because you have had a rough day then Kimchi soup is my go to dish.
So I offered to teach them all how to make it while I was home. So we set a date. A few days before I took them all to HMart to show them what ingredients they would need. We had a great time shopping together to get what we needed. A few days later we gathered together making a huge batch so each household could bring some home and share in the bounty.
Then after we all joined together for hot pot for dinner. I made sure to put up extra porridge so I could serve it over fresh cucumbers with our dinner. So they all got a chance to taste the fresh porridge as I am always amazed at how it changes during the fermentation process.
Often when we travel my husband and I visit small Korean restaurants and markets since I can not have a refrigerator without our house kimchi or korean food. Or wanting to taste others korean cooking. Often making friends with the people all over the US we meet bonding over Korean food. Finding that this food has helped me to bond with others nourishing my body mind and soul.
Many are amazed that this middle aged white lady loves their food so much that she even travels when her own batches of home made kimchi!! Sharing in my tales of putting up batches in my 100 square foot truck camper. Laughing at my enjoyment of this simple dish.
Please refrigerate your kimchi before leaving to prevent it from becoming too sour. While kimchi will continue to ferment in the refrigerator, the cold temperature will slow down the fermentation process. Good luck!
Love your kimchi recipes, yum yum and your video presence is great. I prefer to watch and then work with the recipes. My friends also commented that it is the best kimchi they have tried, so well done to you.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I did it today for the first time. My kids and I love Korean Kimchi. I decided to make it instead of driving about 40mts to the store that has kimchi. Wow!!! It looks amazing waiting for the fermentation process even though after 1 hour I tried it and wow amazing! Thank you!!!
Which to get? Both are best sellers and either one is a good choice if you want to learn Korean home cooking. Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking has all the recipes for all the essential Korean pastes and sauces, but my second book Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking has more recipes, more photos, and more variety.
Doenjang jjigae is a staple Korean stew that uses fermented Korean soybean paste to create a deeply flavorful broth accentuated with tofu and fresh vegetables. With the help of my step-by-step photos, preparing this stew at home becomes effortless.
Korean restaurants typically serve it as the final course after a meal of Korean pork belly barbecue (samgyupsal), bulgogi, or galbi. The aroma of this authentic Korean stew evokes nostalgia for many Koreans, including myself.
I have fond memories of my mother making her signature doenjang stew, which my father adored. Her recipe was special because she made her own doenjang paste, although store-bought paste can still create a delicious stew.
Ttukbaegi is made of a specific type of clay and is typically glazed inside for cooking purposes. In contrast, unglazed earthenware (onggi, 옹기) is more commonly used for storing food for fermentation.
As someone who uses a variety of Korean soup stocks in my cooking, it should come as no surprise that a good doenjang jjigae starts with a good stock. People typically use a high-quality anchovy stock. However, I like to take things up a notch by using rice water instead of plain water as the base.
To make the stock, all you need to do is simmer dried anchovies and a piece of dried sea kelp in the rice starch water for 3-4 minutes. Then, simply discard the anchovies and sea kelp, and your stock is ready to use!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was simple and very delicious. I love Korean food, but unfortunately some websites overly complicate their recipes. I just want to cook tasty every day Korean meals for my family with a minimum of fuss.
My husband and I recently bought soybean paste and were looking for a recipe to use it. I made this soup following your instructions and my husband loved it. Thanks for all the details. I am looking forward to keep cooking from the recipes on your website.
I just finished reading your recipe and Im sure it is delicious, I really enjoyed the way you wrote down this recipe, your writting skills are very much enjoyable and your pictures, simply amazing, my boyfriend is mexican but im sure not only koreans but any men would be conforted by a soup like that!, keep up the amazing work!! Greetings from Mexico!
Thank you for the recipe and for sharing about your family. I too have the sense that your father would be proud. We have to imagine what our deceased elders who loved us would feel and say. They are still with us in significant ways.
The thing is that as a fermented product, doenjang and miso are alive. Doenjang offers more benefits alive than dead, but boiling kills it. So I skipped the early doenjang step and proceeded nearly to the end. Then I added the mushrooms and leeks (not green onions) (and clam meat, as a treat.). Then I drew a little liquid from the cooking pot, covered it, and TURNED OFF THE HEAT.
I put the bit of liquid in a small bowl and mashed the doenjang in it thoroughly. THEN I put the thinned doenjang back into the pot, stirred a little, poured it into my serving bowl (no stone pot here yet, alas!), and topped it with the green onions, which cook in the residual heat. I enjoyed knowing that that the stew still held the live cultures of the doenjang.
Thank you so much for your comment and sharing the tip on adding the doenjang paste at the end. I remember reading an article about it in some Korean cookbook of fermented food. You are right, adding it at last will increase the benefit of getting the most of live culture of the paste. It also will bring the stronger flavor as well. Thanks for your kindness of offering this stew to the memory of my deceased father. I appreciate it.
yes, you can buy chinese doenjang it's called "min see". It's more pungent than miso and sweeter than doenjang so it tastes different to using miso. I've used miso for salmon too and it's not the same. You need around 1 teaspoon of min see mixed with a little water for 1 salmon steak.
I made this last night and added fresh clams to it and had it with rice & korean seaweed, it was sooo good! My bf loved this dish so much so I teased him and said he must be korean as this is a favourite dish amongst korean men hehe. Can't believe that doenjang paste is so tasty, we have a similar chinese doenjang paste which is sweeter and i use it to steam salmon and it's delish!
Ha ha! I know doenjang is not for everyone. Most Korean men (in Korea) loves doenjang stew. It truly is voted for #1 comforting stew for them to miss their mother's cooking even though their wives are great cooks.
I do think it's funny though that this stew is voted #1 among Korean men. I am half-Korean and my boyfriend is too, but he doesn't like this soup at all! Haha. I made some (for myself) and he tried it, but he stuck to his mother's yuk-gae-jang instead! ?
Hi Holly
Thank you for the recipe. Iam going to cook this for dinner. Will it be much different if I omit the chillie flake? Because my young nephew still could not take spicy food yet.
Thanks.
Caroline
Sophia
Hi Sophia, I am sorry about your grandfather.
Your description of how your grandfather enjoyed the stew was so right! Many Korean men, especially older generation, would do that. My father didn't burp but he did slurp his soup or stew though.
Hyosun Ro
Thanks, Hyosun! A pot of Doenjang Jjigae and a grilled fish is one of the most common humble dinner and I often miss that. Hope you enjoyed your coffee and had a great Saturday morning.
Hollly, this is a touching post. I've loved your blog ever since I knew about it. I love you even more now that you are finally doing a doenjang jjigae post, because I've always wanted to make one, but never could. Maybe it's the rice starch water that was missing.
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