When your kids won’t eat vegetables, doenjang-jjigae becomes an awkward thing to make.
You can load it with zucchini, onion, and tofu, and they’ll still only drink the broth.
So my three boys and I struck a deal. Potato, cut into small dice, a few pieces each.
And in exchange, plenty of meat goes in.

At a glance

Ingredients

  • rice water
  • beef or pork (as much as you want)
  • seasoning (doenjang1, noodle soup base2, gochujang0.5, gochugaru0.5, minced garlic0.5)
  • vegetables (potato 1)
  • optional: any vegetables you want

Prep

  • cut the potato into pieces you’d like to eat
  • cut the beef (or pork) into bite-sized pieces too
    • for beef, the cheap bottom round or frozen chadolbaegi is good

Cooking

  • dissolve the seasoning into the rice water, add the potato, bring it up
  • when it’s at a rolling boil, in goes the meat
  • meat’s cooked, you’re done

Ingredients (serves 2)

Broth

  • rice water 400 ml (1⅔ cups)

Main

  • beef or pork 200–300 g (7–11 oz)
  • For beef, the cheap bottom round or frozen chadolbaegi (thin-sliced brisket) works well

Vegetables

  • potato 1, medium

Seasoning — numbers are tablespoons (1 tbsp = 15 ml)

  • doenjang 1, guksi-jangguk 2, gochujang 0.5, gochugaru 0.5, minced garlic 0.5
  • If you don’t have guksi-jangguk, anchovy stock — from a stock concentrate cube or anchovy powder — is fine

Doenjang is Korean soybean paste, at H Mart or online. White miso works but is sweeter and milder.
Guksi-jangguk is a Korean noodle-soup base; Japanese mentsuyu is the closest substitute.

Rice water is what’s left after washing raw rice — cloudy, starchy water. Swirl rice in water, pour it off, and keep it.

Prep

  • Cut the potato into small dice.
  • Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces too.

Cooking

  • Pour the rice water into the pot and dissolve the seasoning into it thoroughly.
  • Add the potato and bring to a boil on high heat.
  • When it’s at a rolling boil, add the meat.
  • Once it comes back to a boil, drop to medium or medium-low and simmer 5–10 minutes.
  • When the meat and potato are cooked through, it’s done.
  • Doenjang-jjigae tastes better cooked in a ttukbaegi, the earthenware pot — it holds the heat and keeps bubbling at the table.

Notes

Rice water, not plain water

Made with plain water, the broth stays a little translucent and doesn’t quite read as doenjang-jjigae.
Rice water gives it the cloudy body it should have.
If the rice is clean, use the water from the first rinse; if it needs washing, take the second.

Doenjang alone tastes flat

One tablespoon of doenjang, plus half of gochujang and half of gochugaru.
Doenjang on its own comes out a bit plain, and just this much gives it a mild kick.
Not spicy, not bland — nobody at the table objects to it.

Potato as the only vegetable is the compromise

It’s the rule I settled on with three vegetable-hating boys. A few pieces of small-diced potato, and that’s the commitment.
Which is why there’s no zucchini, no onion, and no tofu — they won’t eat tofu either.
If it were only adults eating, loading it up with every vegetable plus tofu would obviously taste better.

For another soup, there’s Dak Hanmari.