You can keep all of your other spicy condiments; thanks to The Cinnamon Snail, I am a girl in love with gochujang. Chung Jung One was kind enough to send me a bottle of their own version of the spicy, Korean chili sauce to review and I was delighted. It doesn’t contain any yucky corn syrup and is clearly marked as vegan and gluten-free—what more can you ask for?
The first thing I did was to make the Sriracha & Smoke Pecans from Salad Samurai. Since I subbed the superior gochujang for the sriracha, they became Gochujang & Smoke Pecans: sweet, hot, sticky, and amazing!
Next up I made an aioli by mixing 1 tbsp of gochujang with 1/2 cup of vegenaise (yep, I just made that up: culinary genius that I am) to go with my onion rings.
After that, even I had to admit that it was time to make something that was more than just a snack. I checked Chung Jung One’s website for recipes, but I advise against that, lest you get your vegan panties in a bunch from all the non-vegan fare. Instead, I was lucky enough that the company had sent along a vegan marinade recipe, courtesy of Anne Alderete, which I put to what I thought was very good use for 8oz of seitan with sauteed onions and peppers.
7 parts soy sauce or tamari
2 parts Chung Jung One Gochujang Korean Chili Sauce
1 part coconut sugar
1 part mirin
1 part cooking sake
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
It was sweet, salty, and umami: with just the right amount of flavorful heat.
You can use gochujang inventively, or as a substitute for your favorite spicy condiment. As far as I’m concerned, the only drawback to the Chung Jung One gochujang is that the bottle is way too small; I’ll need much larger quantities in my life.