Eat Healthy and Cheap
Doenjang Vegetable Stew
Doenjang jjigae is built on a paste made from soybeans, salt, and time alone, which gives it a rougher, funkier depth than the more delicate, rice-koji miso most American pantries stock. Dry-searing the mushrooms and onion first, with no water and no oil, builds the brown fond that gives the stew its color and its base flavor, the same job a splash of oil would otherwise do. Whisking the doenjang into a ladle of hot broth before it goes back into the pot keeps the paste smooth instead of gritty, and stops it from clouding into a muddy sludge at a hard boil. If doenjang is not sold nearby, red or white miso stands in, though the stew will taste sweeter and less funky than the original.
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 oz Cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 1 Zucchini, cut into half-moons
- 10 oz Firm tofu, cubed
- 3 tbsp Doenjang
- 1 tsp Gochugaru
- 2 Scallions, sliced
Method
- Put the mushrooms and onion in a dry pot, a stone pot if you have one, over medium-high heat, with no water and no oil yet. Let them sit undisturbed for 4 minutes so they brown and stick a little: that fond is the stew's color and its first layer of flavor, the job oil would otherwise do.
- Add 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water to loosen the fond, scraping the bottom as it steams off. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute, until it smells toasted rather than raw.
- Pour in 3 cups (700 ml) water, bring to a boil, then drop the heat to a steady simmer.
- Ladle about a half cup of the hot broth into a small bowl and whisk in the doenjang until it dissolves smooth. Dropped straight into a hard boil, doenjang breaks into gritty flecks and turns bitter; dissolved first, it thickens the broth evenly instead. Stir the slurry back into the pot.
- Add the zucchini and the gochugaru. Simmer 6 minutes, until the zucchini turns translucent at the edges but still has some bite.
- Slide in the tofu and simmer 3 minutes more, just enough to heat it through. Keep the heat at a bare bubble from here on: a hard boil turns tofu spongy and starts breaking it apart.
- Taste before reaching for more seasoning. Doenjang already carries real sodium, so most pots need nothing else. Ladle into bowls and scatter the scallions over the top.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 130 calories, 10 g protein, 3 g fiber. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt.
