Happy New Year! I just discovered the hard way that Korean soybean paste (doenjang) does NOT equal miso paste. It is not even close. My first lesson of 2014.
I was craving vegetables and rice and excitedly found a vegan recipe for fried rice in order to have my work lunches lined up for the week. The recipe called for miso paste and so I went to TNT to pick some up. TNT surprisingly didn't have it and I was in a rush so I ended up grabbing a tub of the nearest brown soybean paste, assuming all would be well.
When I started cooking, I noticed the paste had a pretty pungent smell but proceeded to succumb to the urge to add a tablespoon more than the recipe called for anyway. I've never cooked with any type of soybean paste before and "soybean paste" just sounds so harmless. Like a white sock or a pencil eraser.
This tendency to eyeball ingredients has resulted in almost ruining my big batch of vegan fried rice.
I tasted the result and it was WAY STRONGER than I expected. A powerfully pungent punch to the taste buds. A quick google revealed that doenjang is something like ten times more potent than miso! Yikes. I ended up going out for lunch today instead.
I am currently trying to dilute my overpowering fried rice with some plain old jasmine rice and more veggies before I go to dance practice. It seems to be working. Now my batch of fried rice will be even bigger, but at least it won't feel like a thousand soybeans died in my mouth every time I eat lunch at work.
When I started cooking, I noticed the paste had a pretty pungent smell but proceeded to succumb to the urge to add a tablespoon more than the recipe called for anyway. I've never cooked with any type of soybean paste before and "soybean paste" just sounds so harmless. Like a white sock or a pencil eraser.
This tendency to eyeball ingredients has resulted in almost ruining my big batch of vegan fried rice.
I tasted the result and it was WAY STRONGER than I expected. A powerfully pungent punch to the taste buds. A quick google revealed that doenjang is something like ten times more potent than miso! Yikes. I ended up going out for lunch today instead.
I am currently trying to dilute my overpowering fried rice with some plain old jasmine rice and more veggies before I go to dance practice. It seems to be working. Now my batch of fried rice will be even bigger, but at least it won't feel like a thousand soybeans died in my mouth every time I eat lunch at work.
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