When making food, the basic seasonings are soybean paste, red pepper paste, soy sauce, and salt. When I first started cooking, it was difficult to know what seasonings to use for each dish. I would just add this and that, taste it, and frown.
After knowing the four basic seasonings, making food became easier and easier. It’s because you can apply it here and there based on four basic things. Also, if you think about the color of the food and decide which of the four seasonings to add, the taste will come out.
For example, the color of glass noodles in japchae is dark brown. It is similar to the color of soybean paste or soy sauce among the four, but I have never tasted soybean paste when I ate it, so I just add soy sauce. It’s like stir-fried potatoes, but when토토사이트 there’s no other color, it’s just salt. In this way, thinking about the basic seasoning while making food, there were fewer failures. However, if you think about the basics well in your life, it seems that there are many things that can be solved on their own.
The basics of food, soybean paste stew
As I started living with my mother, I started making soup in the morning more often. At first (like when I lived alone), I ate rice with side dishes or leftover side dishes from the previous day without soup. Then she noticed that her mother would ask, “Doesn’t soup boil?” You say no, but you have come to the age where you need soup to eat well.
I boil soup almost every day, so the only thing I can do is soybean paste stew. Our soybean paste stew is made with plenty of seasonal vegetables and much more tofu than that. Both my mom and I eat tofu almost every day because of its protein, and my mom especially likes to eat tofu in soybean paste stew. It’s convenient because you can eat protein while eating, so you don’t have to take it with you.
When you boil soybean paste stew, it’s always delicious, but first of all, it seems that the soybean paste that mom prepares herself plays a role. It’s not the traditional way to make fermented soybean paste, but I think it’s because I bought a set to make soybean paste (fermented soybean paste, salt, yellow beans, etc.) sold at a traditional market and made it to suit my family’s tastes.
“You can put less salt on the first day of the first month without hands, but if you put it later than that, you put a lot of salt in it, old grandmothers.”
She said that if she could be a mom, she would make it at the beginning of New Year when she could add less salt. It is said that a day without hands is an auspicious day (a lucky or auspicious day, a day with the final number 9 and 0 in the lunar calendar), so I want to feed my family good food with soybean paste on the first day of the first month without a hand.
Although I have always heard stories of making soybean paste, last year was the first time I saw my mother making it. While she was running errands, she was curious and took pictures. She says that after making it all and leaving it on the veranda for about 45 days, she takes out the soy sauce separately (Chosun soy sauce), and what is left becomes doenjang, she says.
The soybean paste made by my mother is good because it is not salty. So, keep it in the freezer so that golmage (a white mold-like substance) does not form on the surface. I don’t know if it’s always delicious because it’s not salty but well-cooked soybean paste cooked with mom’s label.
Another reason why I feel it is delicious is because of the broth that influences the taste of the soup. I make the stock in advance and freeze it in the freezer. I alternate between my mom’s favorite mussel broth, anchovies and leftover vegetable broth. If the soybean paste and broth are good, the stew is delicious. It seems to be because the basics are faithful.
Here, as the culinary genius Mr. Baek told us, sweet onions are added from the beginning to add depth to the taste. And mother’s wisdom, tofu is added from the beginning like onions and boiled. As the stew boils, the taste of soybean paste and various vegetables permeates into the tofu, making it even more delicious. Any vegetable is good as long as it is in season, but these days, eggplant or zucchini are added in abundance, or soft sesame leaf sprouts are added.
Take care of the basics and become an adult like an adult
Soybean paste stew made with homemade soybean paste, savory broth, and seasonal ingredients is simple and comfortable. It has a rough color, and even if it doesn’t contain a single piece of meat, it’s hearty after eating it.
Unlike food that is delicious at first but gets tired of eating two meals in a row, it does not bite well even though it is the same taste that I have always eaten. Now I know from experience the pharmacist’s words that even if you have a stomachache, you can get better if you eat a little rice with miso soup and be careful. The experience of learning the power of soybean paste and red pepper paste, the basics of Korean seasoning , increases one by one as you get older.
Looking at soybean paste stew, I think of the power of ‘basic’ again. And I also have a desire to become a person who is faithful to the basics. Even if you follow the basics like soybean paste stew, people will be comfortable and won’t get bitten again.
Looking at the heartbreaking things in the news these days, I think about what basics we must abide by in life and what we should take care of in the future. I want to take care of the basics in life and grow older as an adult, just like soybean paste stew, which is a hearty meal with only basic ingredients.
How to make soybean paste stew at home
Ingredients: Soybean paste, broth (shellfish or anchovies, etc.), water, seasoning sauce (red pepper powder if not available), garlic, a little onion, a lot of tofu, seasonal vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, etc.), mushrooms, green onions, according to your taste Banga leaves, etc.
1. Put the broth (made in advance using clams or anchovies) in a pot.
2. Cut the tofu into bite-size pieces and add chopped onions.
3. Add tofu and add water in moderation while watching the volume increase.
4. When it starts to boil, add garlic, soybean paste, seasoning sauce (kimchi sauce, red pepper powder if not available), and add seasonal vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, etc.) and mushrooms.
5. When it boils, add chopped green onion, simmer briefly, and serve (banga leaves or perilla leaves are also added at this time).