Chili powder (gochugaru)
If you have ever eaten kimchi, you will surely be familiar with this spice. Gochugaru chili powder is a special Korean chili powder, which is dried chili peppers ground into a fine powder or crushed into small pieces. Korean chili peppers, in addition to being spicy, also have a slightly sweet taste, often used to pickle kimchi and are an ingredient in some sauces. Sometimes, people who like spicy food also like to add this chili powder to many other dishes such as instant noodles, vermicelli, rice cakes...
Stir-fried sesame seeds (bokkeun-kkae)
Sesame seeds do not play much of a role in the cooking process of a dish, however, if you often eat Korean food, you must have noticed that they appear frequently in dishes. It can be said that sesame seeds contribute to creating one of the identifying characteristics of Korean dishes. We have seen Korean dishes sprinkled with sesame so much that it has become a conditioned reflex, whenever we see a dish sprinkled with a little sesame, we unconsciously think of Korean food. Sesame seeds on each dish help to enhance the aroma of the dish, increase the taste and add a little bit of fatty flavor, neutralizing dishes that are too spicy or too salty.
Chili paste (gochujang)
This is what gives most Korean dishes their signature spicy taste, from fried rice, kimchi, rice cakes, stir-fried noodles to fried chicken. Gochujang is made from ground chili, sugar, glutinous rice and a little meju (fermented soybeans), so it has a rich flavor. More than gochugaru chili powder, gochujjang chili paste is less spicy, sweeter and more aromatic, suitable for marinating meat, rice sauce, noodle sauce, cakes of all kinds. Gochujjang is often used in soups such as kimchi soup, mixed with water to make rice cake sauce, bibimbap rice sauce, kimchi marinade... Gochujang is also used to make ssamjang, a Korean BBQ marinade.
Black bean paste (Doenjang)
Korean black bean sauce is a traditional fermented condiment, with a rich, salty, fatty and slightly sour taste made from fermented soybeans. Korean fermented soybean sauce is similar to Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese sauces, however Korean doenjang is saltier and thicker, so if you want to use it, you have to mix it with a little water. This sauce is used in dipping sauces, meat marinades, soups, stews such as black bean stew, black bean stir-fried meat... The most famous dish with black bean sauce is probably the black bean noodles eaten on Korean Singles' Day that everyone knows - jajangmyeon. In addition, doenjang (as well as gochujang) is an ingredient in ssamjang - a very typical Korean BBQ marinade.
