Look at me writing about Korean food again! I have been making my own kimchi (kind of — a Korean grandma might not approve of the taste or method), eating decked out ramen (I add fresh mushrooms, spinach, tofu and eggs to the packet of instant noodles and sauce powders), and I even bought myself a ddukbaegi, or stone pot used for making and serving stews. (Stay tuned.)

My CSA has been stocking me with all kinds of fall root vegetables lately. This week I received watermelon radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I also have squash and cabbage to play with. I was browsing through my Korean cookbooks for recipes to take advantage of these treasures.

Usually, when I think of cooking and eating Korean food, I think about using kimchi, gochugaru, and rice or noodles (i.e. ramen). That was my goal in my recipe search. But my repertoire is expanding!

Today I decided to make a roasted vegetable salad from Mingoo Kang’s cookbook, Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking.

Jang (rhymes with song) are the three basic sauces made from fermented soybean paste that underlie the essence of Korean food. The most famous is probably gochujang, the sauce that has red chiles in it. Ganjang is analogous to soy sauce (but not the same thing) and doenjang can be likened to miso. According to the NIH, “Recently, “doenjang research has focused on its excellent nutritional value as well as its health-promoting properties, such as its antioxidant,²¹  fibrinolytic,²²  antimutagenic,²³  anticancer,²⁴ and antiobesity effects.” Because all three are based on fermented soybeans, there are multiple health benefits to including them in your diet.

All three start with smashed soybeans that are shaped into blocks, wrapped in rice straw, and allowed to air-cure. Then skilled artisans step into to carefully craft that one product into three distinct sauces/pastes used in Korean cooking. I am exploring that variety of flavors.

The BBQ Doenjang added an earthy quality to this roasted vegetable medley. I might make it for Thanksgiving. I ate it as a salad last night. I am going to try it as a rice bowl topper today, with some roasted chicken for the protein.

Root Vegetable Salad from Mingoo Kang’s Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking. The measurements are from the recipe. Go ahead and riff on the ratios to your taste and crisper drawer.

200 g fingerling potatoes sliced 1 cm thick. I used the small golden potatoes from my CSA share.

1/3 butternut squash (what does this mean? They come in a gagillion sizes. I used a round, pumpkin shaped squash from the CSA — not too big and not too small, cut a chunk off, seeded and peeled it, and then sliced it into half moons about 1 cm thick.)

1 sweet potato (again with the sizes!) cut into slices. The sweet potatoes I had were very long and thin, so I used several and cut them like fat fries and tried to keep them a similar size.

8 large baby carrots got translated to one big fat carrot cut into fat sticks.

1/2 golden beet, peeled and cut into 1 cm sizes. I didn’t have any golden beets. I used several small red beets — I went a bit heavy on these because I love roasted beets.

2 tbs olive oil.

1 tbl fresh thyme leaves

Kosher salt

1/3 cup doenjang BBQ sauce (below)

Garnish with 1/4 cup sliced almnds, 4 or 5 carrot greens roughly torn (you can eat these! But I didn’t have any), freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment (I lined 2 with parchment. I roasted the beets separately so they didn’t stain the golden vegetables.)

In a large bowl, toss the golden vegetables together with a splash of olive oil, 1/2 the thyme, and a pinch of salt. Put on the large baking sheet and spread to a single layer. Repeat the seasoning with the red beets and put on a smaller baking sheet.

Roast for 15 minutes, checking that the smaller pieces don’t burn. You might want to turn some of the vegetables over so they get roasted on both sides.

In a small bowl, mix together the BBQ doenjang with 3 tbls water.

After 15 minutes, remove the vegetables from the oven and brush on the BBQ doenjang — covering both sides. Put back in the oven for 5 minutes (to caramelize the sauce). Plate the vegetables, serve topped with almonds, carrot greens, and pepper to taste.

BBQ Doenjang

Combining doenjang with water , sugar, and oil makes a glaze that sweetens the doenjang, provides carmelization for the BBQ and thins it.

Ratio: 6 parts doenjang, 2 parts water, 1 part sugar, 1 part oil

Combine doenjang (I used 150 g), water (50 g) and sugar (25 g) in a pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to keep the mixture at a simmer. Stir continuously for 15 mins until the volume has reduced to slightly over 1/2. Add the oil and mix well. Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.