Recipe: Seafood Bean Paste Jjigae

Image Credit to: koreanbapsang

Seafood bean paste jigae, also known as seafood doenjang jigae, is a Koren stew made with doenjang, which is a fermented soybean paste. It is one of the favourite dishes in every Korean household.

Doenjang is a significant element in Korean dishes and has a similar role like gochujang, which is a Korean fermented chilli paste. Doenjang is homemade traditionally, but can also be found in Korean markets and sold commercially in hypermarkets.

Ingredients:

• a few small clams, 1/2 squid, and 5 medium shrimp
• 1 litre of rice water (water used to rinse raw rice)
• a small piece of dried kelp around 6 x 4 cm
• 20-25 Korean large anchovies
• 1 heaped tbsp Korean soybean paste (doenjang) dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water; to taste
• 1 tsp Korean chilli powder
• Napa cabbage leaves
• 4 shiitake mushrooms
• 8 carrot slices
• 100 grams firm tofu
• 50 grams enoki mushrooms
• 1 negi (Japanese scallion) sliced thinly and diagonally
• 50 grams ito konyaku
• 1/2 red chilli
• 1/2 green chilli

Directions:

1. Slightly rinse the clams. Soak them in salt water for at least 30 minutes to get rid of the sand.
2. Clean the squids and cut them into strips. Clean the shrimp and remove the intestines.
3. Get rice water by rising some raw rice.
4. Rinse the anchovies and place them in a soup pouch.
5. Cut the cabbage into thin strips and separate the stem from the rest. Remove the mushroom stalks and cut into thin slices. Cut the carrots into thin slices in a flower shape, cut the tofu into small cubes and trim the ends of the enoki mushrooms.
6. Blanch the ito konyaku in boiling water for 2 minutes then submerge the cooked noodles in an ice water bath for a few minutes. Drain off excess water.
7. Boil the rice water along with kelp and anchovies. Let it simmer for around 5 minutes and discard the kelp.
8.  Add the stem part of the cabbage, carrots, firm tofu and shiitake mushrooms and let it simmer for a few minutes.
9. Then add the rest of the cabbage, ito konyaku and the trimmed enoki mushrooms.
10. Add in all the seafood, starting with the clams. Boil until the clams are open.
11. Add in the soybean paste mixture and chilli powder into the pot. Stir and mix well. Make sure the paste has dissolved completely.
12. Slice the chillies and scatter on the soup along with spring onions then let it simmer a bit.
13. Serve the soup with warm steamed rice or eat it alone.