Creamy Korean Ssamjang (쌈장) Pasta Recipe - EricTriesIt (2024)

FAQs

What can I do with ssamjang sauce? ›

Spicy, intensely savory, slightly sweet, and wholly umami, the paste cuts through the richness of food much like kimchi provides welcome acidity to everything from stews to mac and cheese. Ssamjang's potency means a little goes a long way.

The idea is to take a leaf, this can be sesame leaves, Chinese Cabbage or Lettuce, and place a bite sized bit of meat and rice along with some ssamjang and roll it into a ball. This is called a Ssam. You stuff the whole thing in your mouth, as is tradition.

Ssamjang has a very unique taste that is difficult to replicate. Using simple doenjang may make up for the texture aspect of the sauce. Sambal oelek is a Thai chili garlic paste that has a similar flavor profile to Ssamjang. Another option you can try as a substitute is mixing chili garlic paste with some sesame oil.

Ssamjang is more of a bean basted slightly spicy salty nutty sauce used when you are eating meat. Gochujang is a pepper based sauce that is more spicy and less salty and nutty. Gochujang is used in stews or eaten with green peppers( you dip the pepper in gochjang) or used as a sauce base.

Beyond the world of condiments, ssamjang could also be used to marinate meat. The sugar, allium, and doenjang, with its characteristic fermented and salty elements, would simultaneously inject a ton of flavor into chicken, beef, or pork while tenderizing the meat.

Ssamjang, meaning "sauce for wraps" in Korean, has a wonderful combination of sweet, spicy and salty elements.

Unopened, pre-made Ssamjang does not need to be refrigerated, but it should be kept in a cool place. Opened or self-made ssamjang will stay fresh in the refrigerator for months.

If you have a tub of ssamjang, it's great as a bibimbap sauce as well. The salty, spicy, and slightly sweet and umami packed gochujang doesn't really need much of anything else for bibimbap. I simply use some water to thin it out for easy mixing and add a little bit of sugar and sesame oil.

Several types of wild greens, known collectively as chwinamul (such as Aster scaber), are a popular dish, and other wild vegetables such as bracken fern shoots (gosari) or Korean bellflower root (doraji) are also harvested and eaten in season.

What lettuce do Koreans use? ›

Red leaf lettuce is probably the most common in modern ssam but other lettuces, steamed or parboiled cabbage, and kaenip (also known as perilla) leaves are also are popular.

Add more vegetables to reduce the excessive salt. Add half glass of water in curry. Add raw onions. Cut them into two pieces and mix it well for around 15 minutes and then remove it.

It's best just after you make it, but you can store it in the fridge about 10 days, if you need to.

Ssamjang is basically gochujang and doenjang combined, with some sesame, garlic and other wonderful ingredients that make it have this almost peanut butter-like texture. You may have seen ssamjang in lettuce wraps (Ssambap) at some Korean BBQ.

Ssam means "wrapped" and jang means "paste" or "thick sauce". Together as ssamjang they mean "wrapping sauce".

Put cooking oil, green onion, and red pepper powder in a pot and stir-fry over low heat. If it smells like green onion, add soy sauce and stir-fry over low heat. Add water and ramen powder and boil. When the water boils, add ramen and ssamjang and boil.

The two have almost nothing in common, beyond being fermented and pastes (though doubanjiang is only sort of paste-like). The ingredients (broad beans and chilies versus soybeans) and the taste are very different. That's not to say that you're not allowed to make a sauce for your ssam with doubanjiang, of course.

Ssamjang (쌈장) is best known as a Korean bbq dipping sauce. It has mildly spicy and salty flavor with nutty fragrant. And, most importantly it compliments well Korean pork belly bbq (Samgyeopsal).