Creamy Korean Ssamjang (쌈장) Pasta Recipe - EricTriesIt (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between ssamjang and gochujang? ›

Ssamjang is basically gochujang and doenjang combined, with some sesame, garlic and other wonderful ingredients that make it have this almost peanut butter-like texture. You may have seen ssamjang in lettuce wraps (Ssambap) at some Korean BBQ.

Pan-fried chicken, grilled skirt steak, roast squash—these are all dishes that would benefit from being served alongside a bowl of ssamjang. Beyond the world of condiments, ssamjang could also be used to marinate meat.

Spicy, intensely savory, slightly sweet, and wholly umami, the paste cuts through the richness of food much like kimchi provides welcome acidity to everything from stews to mac and cheese. Ssamjang's potency means a little goes a long way.

Ssamjang (Korean: 쌈장) is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of fermented soy beans (doenjang), red chili paste (gochujang), sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and optionally brown sugar.

If you don't want to make your ssamjang sweet, you can skip sugar, honey, or syrup or use less of it. You can also buy premade ssamjang in Korean grocery stores, but I guarantee this will be fresher and more delicious. It's best just after you make it, but you can store it in the fridge about 10 days, if you need to.

The Best Gochujang Substitute (Homemade)

The most authentic gochujang replacement combines miso paste and sriracha with a little pinch of sugar. If you try to just swap in another Asian sauce like sriracha or sambal oelek as a 1:1 gochujang substitute, your dish will be spicier and more acidic than intended.

In addition to all the meat options, ssam is also delicious with braised fish, grilled fish, raw fish, canned fish, tofu, and so on. Usually each person makes his/her own wraps at the table. You can also serve pre-wrapped ssambap by making ssam rolls with some rice and ssamjang in them.

If you have a tub of ssamjang, it's great as a bibimbap sauce as well. The salty, spicy, and slightly sweet and umami packed gochujang doesn't really need much of anything else for bibimbap. I simply use some water to thin it out for easy mixing and add a little bit of sugar and sesame oil. That's it!

The recipe, like any good food, varies from house to house and is a specialty condiment used in a lot of meals, or even by itself.

Bibimbap is a delicious and colourful mixed rice dish that typically includes steamed rice, seasoned vegetables, chicken, a fried egg, and gochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste).

Why is ssamjang so good? ›

Ssämjang provides salt, sweetness, and even a touch of spice to ssäm, but the dominant note is the funky umami flavor of fermented soy beans. This comes from the main ingredient, doenjang, a thick paste similar to Japanese miso, though it's usually much chunkier.

This quick kimchi has all the flavors of traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi, but without all the fuss. And the Ssamjang sauce is the perfect accompaniment with Bulgogi, Korean Grilled Beef. Add the pear, gochugaru, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, and ginger to a food processor and run until smooth.

Add sugar! A fairly effective technique for correcting an overly salty dish is to add sugar. Add one teaspoon of sugar at a time, stir until completely blended and taste.

If you're not familiar with it, gochujang is a Korean condiment, and is a thick paste made from red chillies (well, actually a type of dried chilli flakes called gochugaru), glutinous rice, salt and fermented soybeans, and has a gorgeous, bold crimson colour. Oh, and it's deeply, deeply delicious.

When it comes to the spice level of this delicious sauce, it can be best described as mildly spicy although it depends on the type of peppers that are used in its making. Some of its varieties can go up to 50,000 Scoville Heat Units.

Those similarities make ssamjang our favourite substitute for gochujang. It has the fermented soybeans, spice and umami hit. If it contains sugar, that's great - you could optionally add a dash of sugar or maple syrup if it doesn't.

To add even more variety to the taste, seasoning (Jang, Yangnyum) is added. Gochujang has become the most fundamental of these kinds of food in Korea over thousands of years, functioning to make add flavor to rice taste better while aiding the digestive system.

The two have almost nothing in common, beyond being fermented and pastes (though doubanjiang is only sort of paste-like). The ingredients (broad beans and chilies versus soybeans) and the taste are very different. That's not to say that you're not allowed to make a sauce for your ssam with doubanjiang, of course.