Seasoned Soybean Paste

Today, I’m very excited to share my delicious ssamjang recipe with you. I made this especially for my long time friend, Arleen who wanted to know the Aeri’s Kitchen version of ssamjang. Here it is, Arleen. I hope you like my ssamjang recipe. 🙂 Ssamjang is a seasoned soybean paste that you use for wrapping Korean B.B.Q. with some lettuce. When you wrap Korean meat, you can add some raw onion, garlic, fresh hot pepper, and so on. So, all those flavors go in to this delicious ssamjang too. Enjoy this salty, spicy, garlicky, slightly sweet, and nutty flavor. In my next post, I will show you how to pack a simple lunch box with this ssamjang, so stay tuned. 🙂

Yield: ½ Cup

Short Korean Lesson

• SsaUm (싸움) = Fight
• DaTum (다툼) = Argument

Video Instructions

⏰ The video for this recipe will be started at 0:57.

Main Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Soybean Paste
• 1 Tbsp Hot Pepper Paste
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Water
• ½ Tbsp Serrano Pepper (or Green Hot Pepper)
• ½ Tbsp Macadamia Nut (Optional)
• 2 tsp Garlic, Minced
• 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
• 1 tsp Onion (Optional)

Directions

Get 3 Tbsp soybean paste, 1 Tbsp hot pepper paste, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp water, ½ Tbsp Serrano pepper (or green hot pepper), 2 tsp minced garlic, and 1 tsp sesame seeds.

Put all the prepared ingredients in a small mixing bowl. If you like spicy food, you can increase the amount of the Serrano pepper. I love the crunchy texture and spicy flavor of the pepper in ssamjang.

Mix everything together. In Korea, many people like to add sesame oil in ssamjang, but personally I prefer it without sesame oil. So, if you want, you can add little bit of sesame oil here.

Now, I will introduce my secret ingredient. It’s macadamia nuts. I replaced the nutty flavor that comes from the sesame oil with macadamia nuts, which I think makes it taste even better. Some Koreans use walnuts or other nuts to make it healthier and tastier.

Crush about ½ Tbsp worth of macadamia nuts into little chunks with the tip of a knife. Add the crushed nuts to the ssamjang. If you like raw onion, like me, you can also add 1 tsp of finely chopped onion.

Mix it well one more time.

 

You can make this ssamjang ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. It tastes even better after it sits for a while and the flavors blend together.