Traditional Korean Fermented Vegan Condiments, Part 2 of 2 - Gochujang (Chili Paste) & Sweet Persimmon with Gochujang Dressing

Gochujang, or as known globally as Korean Chili Paste, is another quintessential traditional fermented condiment in Korean kitchens. It is spicy, sweet, salty, and has a deep flavor. It also uses meju as a base.

“To make Chili Paste, you need to make sikhye the day before. Now, to make sikhye, I pour malt water that has been well-brewed in a large thermal rice cooker. And now I will add freshly cooked glutinous rice. Scoop some glutinous rice and put it in. Stir evenly so that the sticky rice dissolves well. The sikhye will be ready when you set the rice cooker at a warm temperature and keep it in there for more than 10 hours.”

“To make the chili paste, I will mix well all the ingredients. First, can you pour two ladles of sikhye in here? (Yes.) Next, let’s add in the chili powder. Add four kilograms of chili powder. Next, add one kilogram of meju powder. And add another ladle of sikhye. Add one and a half kilograms of bamboo salt. And 500 grams of ground Andean salt. Then add two kilograms of rice syrup. And here, one kilogram of raw sugar. One liter of soy sauce. I made this soy sauce last spring. 300 milliliters of plum syrup. And lemon juice from two large lemons. Adding lemon juice gives it a clean and refreshing taste. Let’s pour in the remaining sikhye. I’ll leave a little bit of sikhye. Stir well to mix all the ingredients evenly. Yes, please pour in the rest of the sikhye. And stir evenly. Our gochujang is now ready.”

Let’s take a look at how this chili paste is used to make a salad dressing for a traditional sweet persimmon side dish. For this recipe, we will use three large ripe sweet persimmons and 15 grams of water parsley. Peel and cut the persimmons into eight equal parts and remove the seeds. Then cut the eight parts into bite-sized pieces. Cut the washed water parsley into three-centimeter lengths. Place the cut persimmons and water parsley in a bowl. Add half a tablespoon of chili powder, half a tablespoon of gochujang, one teaspoon of homemade soy sauce, one teaspoon of pineapple vinegar, two teaspoons of raw sugar, and one teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds. Mix all the ingredients together well. “Delicious and sweet persimmon with gochujang salad dressing is ready.”