Gochujang, or Korean chili paste. If you’ve enjoyed Korean food before, you’ll recognize Gochujang’s flavor from popular dishes like bibimbap or bulgogi. Gochu means chili in Korean, which gives away its primary ingredient. The secret formula is pretty basic: fermented soybean paste mixed with red chili, salt and sugar. Think sweet miso, with a spicy kick and a flavorful punch.
Sweet Spicy red sauce that comes from Southeast Asia like Sriracha
Jane Lear writes:
You can find gochujang (a.k.a. koch’ujang), the red-pepper flakes (koch’u karu), and numerous other chile-laden products at koamart.com as well as at Korean markets like Han Ah Reum, just off Herald Square, where the produce department revolves around heaps of fresh red and green chiles.
If you are looking for a leisurely, sanctified shopping experience and an exquisitely packaged condiment to impress someone with, Han Ah Reum is not the store for you. I elbowed through the crowd, picked up a 2.2-pound (“This is the smallest size you have?”) red plastic tub* of gochujang and some other goodies, and called it a day. I soon used the chile paste in a short-rib stew, which everyone loved. Then the container got shoved to the refrigerator’s way back and forgotten.
When I unearthed it a week or so ago, I was elated, and I immediately started snubbing my bottle of sriracha for the richer, more lustrous timbre found in gochujang. I’ve added the stuff to chuck roast, spaghetti sauce, lentil soup, a mayonnaise dressing for coleslaw, and a quick garlic-scallion topping for stir-fried tofu. Like anchovy paste and fish sauce—two other great grounding ingredients—gochujang adds body, roundness, and a deep, complex savoriness to almost anything.
* This brand, distributed by CJ Foods and the “No. 1 seller in Korea” seems to have the fewest additives and, most helpfully, the words Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste written in English on the label. A 2.2-pound tub costs about $8.
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