Ground Soybean JjiGae

In Korean cuisine, soybeans are important to make things such as tofu, soybean sprouts, soybean paste, etc. They are also used as is for stews, soups, jeon, etc. So, in this post, I will share a delicious stew recipe using ground soybeans, pork, and kimchi. I will also share some tips to make it a vegetarian dish.

Yield: 2 Servings

Short Korean Lesson

• HoRangI (호랑이) = Tiger
• SaJa (사자) = Lion

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients:

• 1½ Cups Ground Soybean (½ Cup Dried Soybeans, 1 Cup Water)
• 1 Cup Well Fermented Kimchi
• 1 Generous Cup Water
• ⅓ Cup Kimchi Broth
• ⅓ Cup Green Onions
• 1 Tbsp Red Hot Pepper (Optional)

Meat Ingredients:

• ½ Cup Pork or Beef
• 2 Pinches Salt
• 1 Pinch Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil

Seasoning Ingredients:

• 2 tsp Hot Pepper Powder
• 1 tsp Soup Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Fish Sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic, Minced
• ½ tsp Salted Shrimp
• ⅛ tsp Ginger, Minced

Directions

Prepare ½ cup of dried soybeans, which are called MeJuKong (메주콩) in Korean. You can buy them at a Korean grocery store or on Amazon.com. I buy the Non GMO soybeans produced in America from Amazon and I recommend that brand. A link is below.

Wash the soybeans several times in cold water.

Soak the soybeans in water overnight. So if you are planning to make this stew, make sure that you plan the soaking time into your schedule, which will be at least 8 hours.

The next day, drain out the water. My soybeans rehydrated very well.

Add the soybeans and 1 cup of water into a blender.

Grind them for about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on the power of your blender.

If the soybeans turns into a soft puree like this, they are good to go. You will get about 1½ cups. You can also use this as a batter (instead of flour) for Korean pancakes, to make gluten-free Jeon.

Chop ½ cup worth of pork into small pieces. Cut of pork works fine, you can even use ground pork. Also, other kinds of meats like beef, turkey, chicken, and seafood are good. For vegetarians, you can use your favorite mushrooms instead of the meat. 🙂

We also need to chop 1 cup of old, sour kimchi into bite-sized pieces. The older the kimchi is, the deeper the flavor will be. Also set aside about ⅓ cup of kimchi juice from your jar of kimchi.

In a heated pot, add the meat and season it with 1 tsp of sesame oil, 2 pinches of salt, and 1 pinch of black pepper. Fry it for about 3 minutes on high.

After 3 minutes, add the kimchi and fry for another 3 minutes on high.

After another 3 minutes, pour 1 generous cup of water and all the ground soybeans into the pot.

Add the seasoning ingredients: 2 tsp of hot pepper powder, 1 tsp soup soy sauce, 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp minced garlic, and ⅛ tsp minced ginger. Mix it all together.

Once the stew starts to boil, cook it covered for about 12 minutes on medium. The ground soybeans can easily splash all over the places, so you have to cover it.

Meanwhile, chop ⅓ cup worth of green onions and 1 Tbsp of hot pepper. The hot pepper is mostly just for a garnishment, so you can skip it.

When the stew is almost done cooking, taste it and add about ½ tsp of salted shrimp (only the shrimp – none of the brine) to add an extra savory flavor. If you are a vegetarian, you can use salt or soup soy sauce to replace the fish sauce and salted shrimp.

Finally add the green onions and red hot pepper and cook 1 more minute on medium-high. If you want more broth in your stew at this point, add some more water.

 

The nutty flavor from the soybeans is great match with the savory kimchi. I love to eat it mixed with freshly cooked rice. It is mouth watering. I hope you can try this recipe someday. 🙂

But, what if you forgot to soak your soybeans the night before, or you do not have enough time to soak the beans for 8 hours? Here is a great tip about how to rehydrate them in less than an hour. First, put ½ cup of washed soy beans and 2 cups of water into a microwave safe bowl.

Cover the bowl with paper towels and run it for about 6 minutes on high.

After 6 minutes, you will see the soybeans have wrinkly skin now and have expanded little bit in size. However, they are not fully rehydrated yet.

Therefore, recover the bowl with paper towels and set them aside for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, you will have magically rehydrated beans. 🙂 This saves lots of time.