Make Gochujang Sauce, Korean Sauce, Spicy

• Food: Gochujang Sauce

• Writer: Alice

• Content-Type: Food Blog

The sauce is most frequently used in Korean cuisine, but it has such a delightfully sweet, spicy, umami flavor that you’ll want to put it on everything!

The sauce is unparalleled in terms of flavor. When I had it on hand, I started using it on everything, from roasted vegetables to avocado toast, though I originally made it to drizzle over homemade bibimbap! This classic Korean sauce has a strong sweet, sour, spicy, and umami flavor with a funk undertone.

Gochujang, a fermented Korean chili paste comprised of glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, red chili pepper flakes, and salt, is responsible for this delectable, peculiar flavor.

It has a strong flavor on its own and even little amounts will give anything you’re preparing a powerful flavor.

This sauce fills the need in that situation. I blend the paste with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and pure maple syrup rather than using it by itself. In contrast to the paste, the final spicy sauce is smoother and mellower, but its flavor is just as distinctive.

Make it no matter what you do—add it to Korean food or spread it over a bowl of plain rice! This dish will be perfect for you if you enjoy the hot sauce.

COMPONENTS OF GOCHUJANG SAUCE

It’s quite simple to create this sauce, considering how tasty it is! You simply need these 4 components:

• Find gochujang paste in the Asian area of your grocery store or at a Korean market. Depending on how hot you prefer your sauce, start with less and gradually add more. Different brands have varying levels of intensity.
• Sesame oil: It tempers the gochujang paste’s spiciness and provides the sauce with a rich nutty flavor.
• For tang, use rice vinegar!
• Pure maple syrup – While many store-bought brands of gochujang sauce contain corn syrup, I like to naturally sweeten mine using pure maple syrup. It imparts a great savory and sweet flavor to the sauce.

Whisk the ingredients together after adding them to a small bowl. Use the sauce immediately away or keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week in an airtight container.

USING GOCHUJANG SAUCE

If you’ve already tried bibimbap, a typical Korean rice bowl, you’re probably already familiar with gochujang sauce (pictured above).

But this delicious dipping sauce is so much more than bibimbap sauce! To begin with, it would taste great on any rice or vegetable dish. Replace it with the sauce in any of the following recipes:

• Mango Ginger Rice Bowl
• Cauliflower Rice Kimchi Bowl
• Tamago Kake Gohan
• Kimchi Brown Rice Bliss Bowl
• Best Buddha Bowl
• or create a dish on your own! Start with roasted vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, or massaged kale, baked tofu or tempeh, and brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice. To bring it all together, add the sauce at the end.

It can also be used for a stir fry, spread on a veggie burger, or used as a sweet and sour dipping sauce for sweet potato fries or grilled vegetables.

GOCHUJANG SAUCE

You won’t be able to get enough of this sauce if you like fiery sauce! It tastes fantastic on roasted vegetables, veggie burgers, bibimbap, and other dishes thanks to its amazing sweet and spicy flavor.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 to 3 tablespoons gochujang paste*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and maple syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix the gochujang paste, vinegar, sesame oil, and maple syrup in a small basin. For a mild sauce, use less gochujang paste; for a hotter sauce, use more.
2. Put some on bibimbap bowls or use it as a condiment for any rice dish with vegetables.

NOTES

*I purchase my Mother-in-Gochujang Law’s from Whole Foods. The taste and level of spiciness of other brands may differ.