Whenever my grandmother made fermented soybean paste, she buried a bunch of green chili peppers in the paste in her earthenware crock. After a few months of fermentation, she dug the peppers out and served them as a side dish. They were pickled and super-salty, delicious in small quantities with rice. It was one of my favorite things to eat, but hardly practical for the modern cook. That’s why I was overjoyed to discover this interpretation on a recent trip to Los Angeles. Someone there must have been inspired by that traditional pickle to create this dish, which takes only minutes to make and is fresher tasting and much less salty than the original, but still spicy, garlicky, nutty, and a little sweet from the honey, just like my grandmother’s peppers. That recipe was made with long green chili peppers, which are more widely available here than Korean chili peppers. After a few experiments in my kitchen, I figured out how to make it myself.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoons fermented soybean paste (doenjang)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- 4 or 5 long green chili peppers or Anaheim chili peppers, or 10 green Korean chili peppers (cheong-gochu), stemmed and cut into ½-inch slices
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine the soybean paste, garlic, scallion, honey, and sesame seeds in a small bowl and mix well.
- Add the peppers and mix well.
- Serve immediately, so the peppers are still crispy and refreshing
