A quick recipe for left over firm tofu. Mix to make yangnyeomjang:
1 clove of minced garlic.
1 chopped green onion.
1 ts hot Korean pepper flakes (gochugaru 고추가루).
1 ts sugar.
1 tbs soy sauce.
1 ts sesame oil.
Slice firm tofu (optional: coat with flower and salt) and fry in hot oil until light brown.
Spoon yangnyeomjang evenly over the tofu, and sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds over top just before serving.
The Chinese name for this dish is 肉末茄子煲 ("Minced Meat and Eggplant Claypot"). It is simple to make.
To prepare this dish you finely dice: fatty pork, paprika, mushrooms and garlic. The eggplant should be sliced while rolling the eggplant on the cutting board. Use a long light purple Asian eggplant instead of European eggplant.
Heat a wok and fry firm tofu in 5 mm slices on medium heat until slightly brown.
Heat the wok again and add the diced pork. Stir fry the eggplant for 5 minutes in the pork lard. Season with oyster sauce, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for color. Add a bit of water. Add the paprika, mushrooms and garlic. Stir fry and add starch for thickening the sauce. Add some scallion oil 葱油 as a last step.
Add the vegetable mixture to the claypot and sprinkle with spring onion. Heat the claypot on a fire for a short time to make this dish sizzle.
Photo: video still from YouTube.
Fermented soybean paste stew is one of the Korean recipes you should memorise, since it accompanies a myriad of other dishes. The basics are very simple: boil a couple of cups of water with: onion, garlic, green Korean chili peper (cheong-gochu 청고추), dried anchovies, fresh large shrimp (optional), clams (optional), mushrooms (optional), potato (optional) and zucchini (optional). Boil for 10-15 minutes.
Add 1-4 tablespoons fermented soybean paste (doenjang) depending on how big your bowl, taste before you add an extra spoon. Mix and boil for 15 minutes, add medium-firm tofu and cook for some more minutes. Add spring onion and serve in a stoneware bowl. Below is a doenjang-jjigae 된장찌개 in a mushroom restaurant near Gurye 구례. The photos are made with an iPhone 7 and are of lower quality than usual.
A rather basic songi-dolsot bap (stone pot rice with pine mushroom). Songi (송이) are pine mushrooms.
Hanguktongsin-ro 한국통신로, Masan-myeon, Gurye, Jeollanam-do