If you want to replace one with the other, focus on the way that their differences and similarities can affect your dish. If you’re looking to make bibimbap, or want a dipping sauce that’s spicy with a hint of sweetness, choose gochujang. So which one should you buy? They look and taste enough alike that they can make passable substitutes for each other; however, you may have to make some adjustments to each for a substitution to work properly. Two of the more common sauces are ssamjang and gochujang. The powerful health benefits of dates include providing an energy boost, increasing iron in the body, and aiding digestion.Â. John Staughton is a traveling writer, editor, publisher and photographer with English and Integrative Biology degrees from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana (USA). Ssamjang is a salty, spicy sauce that is a mix of gochujang and duenjang, combined with sesame seed, garlic, and sesame oil. Dates are sweet fruits of the date palm tree. Use in sauces and dressings where you want a bright chili pepper heat and maybe a moderate acidity as well. The Koreans have a long history of using flavorsome condiments as part of a dish, or for dipping other ingredients into. It has a very smooth texture, although you’ll sometimes find bits in it, such as chili seeds. Gochujang is a deep red, smooth and spicy paste popular in Korean cuisine. Enjoy 500+ spicy recipes, 125+ pepper profiles, and hundreds of related articles. Average rating 3.4 out of 5.0 based on 8 user(s). All rice noodles and rice paper wraps are gluten-free as they are made wholly from rice. Gringo Bandito Classic Variety Pack. Although they are relatively common, it is difficult to mimic the exact taste of this condiment. Leaves from lettuce or cabbage are used to wrap small pieces of meat, rice, and a little dollop of ssamjang paste. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. An egg is usually added to the plate for extra color and flavor. While Harissa, Sriracha, and red pepper flake paste can’t exactly duplicate the taste of gochujang, any one of those ingredients should be good enough to be used instead of the Korean condiment. Gochujang is a Korean red chili paste. The most basic ssamjang is doenjang or gochujang itself. A study carried out by the…. Because raw chil peppers make up most of sambal oelek, it often contains more moisture when you compare it to gochujang. Gochujang ingredients will vary depending on who makes it; however, the main components are chili peppers, fermented soybean paste, rice powder, and salt. Doenjang is a brown paste that is made from fermented soybeans and shares similar flavor characteristics to miso. So cutting straight to the miso can help cut out those months of waiting when making your own Korean chili sauce. The ratio of the two is totally a matter of preference, but it’s usually more doenjang than gochujang. See, both gochujang and miso use fermented soy. Sambal oelek consists mainly of chili peppers with some vinegar and salt. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. How to get oil out of clothes? Thai chili paste is much closer in texture to gochujang than sriracha, but still has heavy notes of garlic. While it can be tempting to grab your trusty bottle of sriracha from the cupboard, this chili sauce is not going to give you quite the same flavor profile as gochujang, and will not be appropriate for all recipes. Can I use ssamjang instead of gochujang? We source information from studies, clinical trial findings, and meta-analyses published in peer-reviewed journals. It has a mildly sweet and nutty undertone, but the dominant flavor is pungent umami – the result of fermented soybeans. Gochujang is also the better option if you want less spiciness than you would get from sambal oelek. The taste and smell of gochujang are different from those of sambal oelek since gochujang is fermented. Everything is rolled into a ball, making it easy to eat out of hand – the ideal street food. You can also use it as a dipping sauce for Korean-style fried chicken and to marinate pork or chicken that you plan to roast or grill.