Korean-style vegetable stew with quinoa

Weekly, we pick a box of vegetables from our CSA, the excellent Live Earth Farm.They are nice enough, that each week, they provide recipes for the vegetables in the box. The recipes tend to be great, we have tried several, each resulted in a tasty outcome.

Of course, I tend to be too lazy to look up the recipes they send us and plan what to cook. For some reason, I am never too lazy to fire off a Google search and look for recipe ideas that I can apply to the content of our refrigerator. Recently, I decided to explore Korean cooking, to complement the much harder task Jasna has undertaken - learning the language. I came across doenjang jjigae. It is a vegetable stew made with fermented soy bean paste, vegetables, tofu, maybe seafood and what not.

After a few experiments, I came with a fusion variant that has been a hit: Tasty, healthy, and makes a great leftover. And it is trivial to make. We like to consume it with quinoa.

Start by soaking about half a cup to a cup of red lentils in hot water. That will prepare them for cooking.

Chop a small to medium onion and start sauteeing it in at a medium heat. I like to use a 3-quart pan.

Chop about 3 cloves of garlic and if you feel like it, about an inch cube of ginger.

Assemble an assortment of vegetables from your fridge. The wintery kind works great. The last time I used three small-to-medium carrots, one parsnip, a bag of king oyster mushrooms, the core of a smallish romanesco cauliflower, and a fistful of tiny brussels sprouts. In the past I used butternut squash as the main vegetable. Adding some potatoes is nice as well.

You'l need to cut all the vegetables to chunks of about the same size, so that they cook equally. Also chop tofu to chunks of about the same size as vegetables. 1/2 inch cubes are a respectable target.

I first.added carrots to the onion, and I stirred a bit After a minute or so I add garlic and ginger and stir again. I prefer to add garlic and ginger late so that they don't burn. Then gradually add the rest of the vegetables, gently stirring as you go. I don't add all the veggies at once so that I don't cool the pot off, but that probably does not mater.

Once all the vegetables are in the pot, add hot water or stock so that the vegetables are well covered. A lot of the liquid will be absorbed by the lentils that you will add a bit later. Instead of pre-made stock, I use the excellent Better-than-Bullion low sodium organic vegetable stock base, one of my favorite things from Costco. Cover the pot with the lid. I use hot water so that it comes to the boil faster.

While you are waiting for the water to boil, I suggest not watching the pot. It is a boring activity. But do not leave the kitchen. Instead, start your quinoa. I tend to cook 1/2 cup of dry quinoa, this quantity is enough for the two of us and we have enough for the next time. The basic recipe is that for each part of quinoa you add two parts of liquid. So, 1/2 cup of quinoa calls for one cup of water. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer gently for about 12 minutes. Set a timer, it is very easy to forget and burn your tasty quinoa. If you want to add more taste to quinoa, use stock instead of water. I use vegetable stock.

By now the stew is likely boiling. Reduce to simmer and add one heaping tablespoon of doenjang. You can push it to the pot through a sieve, or use the spoon to dissolve it completely. Then add one heaping tablespoon of miso paste, and also dissolve it completely. To me, the combination of the two produces a stew that is better if you just use miso or just doenjang. You taste buds may have a different opinion. I suggest you experiment and decide what it is that you like.

Drain the water from the lentils. They will swell nicely. Add the lentils to the stew and stir.

Add tofu and stir gently. I used extra firm tofu, because that is what we had in the fridge. Firm tofu would likely be better, soft may fall apart all too willingly.

If you like it spicy, you can add additional chili powder to the stew. I became partial to the sweet heat of Korean chili powder that I buy in the excellent local Korean market. Again, experiment with what you have.

Set the timer to about 10 minutes for the stew to be done. Yes, having more than one timer is useful!

By now the 12 minutes have likely passed and quinoa is cooked. Taste for doneness. If the quinoa is cooked, turn off the heat and let it absorbe the remaining liquid. Keep the pot covered, so that the quinoa remains warm.

Stir and taste the stew periodically. When the vegetables reach your desired level of doneness, the stew is done.

Garnish with chopped green onions. We server the stew in a bowl along with quinoa. Of course you can use rice instead of quinoa!