Gochujang! If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s a Korean chili paste made from fermented soybeans, red chilis and glutinous rice. It’s been popping up more frequently in Food Network shows and sprinkled throughout issues of Bon Appétit lately, so I headed down to the Super 88 Market in Malden to pick up some for myself.
When I got home and peeled back the cover, it revealed a thick and deeply crimson red paste. The first taste revealed a richly complex flavor with a dominant tone of umami, a nice heat level, a tiny bit of sweetness and a touch of saltiness.
Although it’s traditionally used to make Korean Bibimbap and Bulgogi, I decided to use it in a sauce to spoon over piping hot baked sweet potatoes as a first try.
BAKED SWEET POTATO WITH GOCHUJANG AND PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE
- Total Time: 1 hours
- Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
for the potatoes
- One large sweet potato
- 2 TB peanut oil
for the sauce
- 2 TB toasted sesame oil
- 1 cup shallots, finely chopped
- 3 TB mirin
- 1–2 TB gochuchang
- 1 TB soy sauce
- 1 TB peanut butter
to garnish
- crushed peanuts
- black and white sesame seeds
- sliced scallions
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375.
- Drizzle 1 TB of the peanut oil onto the bottom of a 12-inch cast iron pan and tilt to coat.
- Peel then slice the potato on a mandoline slicer*. Arrange the slices in a spiral pattern, starting in the center of the pan, and then building it outwards towards the edges.
- Drizzle the remaining 1 TB of peanut oil over the top, then cover with tin foil and place into the oven to bake for about 35 minutes.
- While your potatoes are baking, make your sauce. Warm the toasted sesame oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the chopped shallots and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add in the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir until smooth. Set aside.
- Once your potatoes are done, remove the tin foil, then spoon about 3/4 of the mixture around the ring of the cast iron pan, then drizzle some of the liquid in the sauce over the center portion. Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Sprinkle the edges with the peanuts, scallions and sesame seeds, and serve with some of the extra sauce on the side. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
* You can also boil or bake chunks of sweet potato and serve mashed with the sauce if you don’t have the time or feel like slicing and spiraling the potato.
- Cook Time: 1 hours
Daphne Medina says
I am a gochujang FREEEAK….in Korea, the ajimas would give me crazy looks b/c I would always ask for too many extra sides of it. 😛
Going to make this–it looks fantastic!
erinwyso says
I hope you like, Daphne! I can't believe I've only just tried gochujang recently — I can't get enough of it now!