Korean Cooking: Soybean Paste Stew (Doenjang Jjigae)

I finally made my first Korean dish. My roommate and I recently moved out of the dormitory at the university to a shared room in the downtown area of Cheonan, which means easy access to shopping and we have a kitchen.

In Korean cooking, stews and foods made from fermented foods are common. This dish is called "Doenjan Jjigae" which translates to "Soybean Paste Stew" in English. Sometimes, store-bought Korean soybean paste has a strong smell, but the soybean paste I received from a friend doesn't smell strong at all.

I enjoyed finding the ingredients, making the dish, and eating it with my roommate. It wasn't as difficult to make as I thought and very tasty (I think it's the special Doenjang I used).

Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try:

Ingredients:
• 1 medium size potato
• a zucchini or a squash
• 1 medium size onion
• garlic
• 1 green chili pepper
• 7 dried anchovies
• 1 green onion
• 100-150 grams of tofu
• soy bean paste (doen jang)
• 4 shrimp

1. Prepare a ceramic pot to put all the ingredients in. (Note: I used a regular pot).
2. Peel the potato, cut it into 2 cups worth of cubes, and put them into the pot .
3. Cut zucchini into 2 cups worth of cubes, and put them into the pot.
4. Cut your onion into chunks, and put them into the pot.
5. Slice your green chili pepper, and put it into the pot.
6. Prepare 7 large dried anchovies by removing their heads and intestines, chop them up, and put them  into the pot. (Note: I didn't use anchovies).
7. Chop up 4 shrimp and put them into the pot. (I didn't use shrimp either).
8. Mince 5 cloves of garlic and put it into the pot.
9. Your pot will now be 2/3 full with your ingredients.
10. Submerge everything in water and cook it over high heat.
*tip: Don’t put too much water, just enough to cover everything
11. When it starts boiling, add 4-6 tbs of bean paste, stir the stew, and keep cooking
12. When the stew is sizzling and all ingredients are cooked, cut your tofu into cubes, chop up 1 green onion, and add them to the stew.
13. Occasionally stir the boiling stew with a spoon.
14. Serve it with a bowl of rice and other side dishes.
*tip: to check whether or not the ingredients are cooked, taste the potato.

from http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/tofu-stew-doenjang-chigae