Your favorite uses for gochugaru

May 21, 2015 1:18 PM

Thanks to an ordering snafu we’re now the proud owners of a giant one-pound bag of gochugaru Korean red chili flakes instead of the small container we thought we were getting. What can we do with it beyond kimchi?

I found a couple of interesting looking recipes on Google but I’d rather hear from MeFites because y’all are good at this kind of stuff. Assume no dietary restrictions, a high level of cooking skill, adventurous palates, and access to pretty much any additional ingredients.

So. Much. Gochugaru.

posted by _Mona_ to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes from the Momofuku cookbook.
posted by kathryn at 1:25 PM on May 21, 2015

A number of recipes from one site: https://goo.gl/0WjKWe.
Here is their "Korean Chili Pepper Flakes - Introduction of Gochugaru (고추가루)" video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktM10AoK8gY.
posted by spock at 1:31 PM on May 21, 2015

Put it in everything you want to be spicy--not just the korean stuff. I do, at least.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 1:34 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is my version of a Korean quick-pickled cucumber recipe - I've never used the correct sort of cucumber, or had an authentic version cooked by someone who knows what it should taste like, so I kept adjusting the recipe until it seemed best with a couple of "normal" cucumbers.

2 large salad cucumbers
2 tsp finely ground seasalt
2 tsp korean chilli powder
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
Gomasio for garnish

1) Slice and mix cucumber with salt, make sure coated
2) Leave cucumber to sit for 32mins
3) rinse cucumbers well, drain, shake dry-ish.
4) Mix with everything except the sesame oil and sesame seeds
5) Add the oil at the end and mix in
6) Leave in airtight container in fridge for at least 32 minutes

Serve with sprinkle of sesame seeds
Should last 3 days

It only needs 2 teaspoons so it might not make much of a dent in your chilli pile...
posted by BinaryApe at 1:39 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is only slightly helpful, but this Patè de Campagne recipe that I recently made includes gochugaru as an option in this. (It's in the comments and subs in for the other fancy red pepper flakes.)
It uses not very much of it.

It is also delicious, great project cooking and very fancy. I award myself .5 participation points, because it doesn't get rid of it really, and it causes you to get other ingredients that you'll figure out how to use. Or just make a double batch.
posted by msamye at 1:42 PM on May 21, 2015

Aside from Korean dishes, it's great as a seasoning on pork chops or any meat that could use a little zing. On the Korean front, sounds like it's time for you to make a big pot of stew! My household like kimchi jjigae or the strange-but-tasty army stew.
posted by jess at 1:43 PM on May 21, 2015

I use these all the time when I want to add chili flavor; they're not really a specialist ingredient because they're just chili flakes - a more affordable version of the chili flakes people used to have to buy off the grocery store spice rack. I use them in soups, chopped salads, on meat, and so on.

If you want to explore Korean dishes, maangchi.com is a good place to start. I'm not sure how many recipes call specifically for gochugaru instead of gochujang, but I'm guessing a lot of the pickling recipes will call for gochugaru (like kimchi).
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:46 PM on May 21, 2015

If you're willing to buy some other obscure ingredients, you can also make your own gochujang.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:59 PM on May 21, 2015

I fry rapini in olive oil and gochugaru at low heat until the stalks are nice and soft and then put it on sandwiches.
posted by 256 at 2:04 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Someone gave me a huge jar a couple of weeks ago. I have used it succesfully in chilli, shakshuka, tagine with chicken and olives, a Congolese groundnut stew and virtually everything else I have cooked since I got it. So go nuts.
posted by Jode at 2:52 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Chili oil.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:41 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I use gochugaru anywhere I'd use (unsmoked) paprika. And also as the base for many many Asian fusion-ish meals like so: Mix three parts gochugaru, two parts sugar, two parts soy sauce, and one part roasted sesame oil. Now you have a spicy paste that can become so many things with varying amounts of rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger stirred in.

- with scallions, As a sauce for tofu or rice or anything else

- add miso for fake gochujang

- more vinegar and sugar plus sesame seeds for a dipping sauce for fried things

- Add corn syrup and lots of garlic For sticky-sweet Korean-style chicken wings

- thinned with water and vinegar for salad dressing

Etc etc.
posted by peachfuzz at 3:42 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

gochu means 'hot pepper' and garu means (more or less) 'powder'. (For example, flour is milgaru -- wheat powder.) So really, anywhere you might want to use red pepper powder, you can use it. It has a different flavour than some other versions from other countries might, and in fact has a lot of variation in taste and heat between batches and seasons and growing locations, but it's basically just that.

The 'jang' in gochujang means 'paste', and it has a different flavour profile. A good pot of, say, kimchi jjigae or any other spicy Korean stew will include both gochujang and gochgaru, and they compliment one another.

But, anyway, yeah, what people have said, that you can use it anywhere you might use hot red pepper powder is indeed true.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:42 PM on May 21, 2015

Jam
posted by aniola at 11:04 PM on May 21, 2015

Anything from this list, especially fire chicken with cheese.
posted by neushoorn at 11:22 PM on May 21, 2015

Sounds like Maangchi has a few great ideas.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 2:16 AM on May 22, 2015