Doenjang jjigae
Doenjang jjigae (된장 찌개) is probably the most common and traditional of Korean soups, certainly the most commonly consumed at home. It is prepared with doenjang (된장), fermented soybean paste, a key ingredient in traditional Korean cuisine. Very simple to prepare and very tasty, this soup is a real comfort food.
There are some variations: in Korean restaurants you will often find it enriched with pork or more simply accompanied by steamed rice, which Koreans love to add to the soup - in this way the starch contained in the rice will make the broth more creamy .
The recipe that I propose is the original one with the simple addition of rice cakes, to make it more complete. Obviously you can omit this ingredient.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 zucchini
- 2 mushrooms (I used dried shiitake)
- 1 spring onion
- 1 garlic
- 150 gr solid tofu
- 1 teaspoon of gochugaru
- oil
- 2 spoons of doenjang
- 1 kombu seaweed leaf
- rice cakes (optional)
PREPARATION
- Start by preparing a light mushroom broth: put the water, the shiitake mushroom and the kombu seaweed in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cover. Cook for about an hour and then strain through a colander.
For a tastier broth add slices of daikon and two tablespoons of soy sauce for three liters of total water.
- Chop the onion and cut the zucchini into slices or slices. Keep it aside.
- Put the freshly cut onion and crushed garlic in a saucepan. Add a drizzle of oil and let it dry slightly.
- Add the sliced zucchini, the sliced mushroom, the filtered broth, the chopped spring onion, gochugaru and doenjang. Bring to a boil. Cook for 30 minutes.
- If you decide to cook the soup with rice cakes add them now to the soup after soaking them for about 30 minutes, otherwise skip this step.
- Add the chopped tofu and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
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