We ate for the first time at this Mexican/Korean restaurant (I know, right?) and it was AWESOME. My boyfriend’s meal came with a little pot of this dark red spicy bean sauce/paste stuff - it had a very rich flavor and was mild/medium spicy. We loved it and would like to get some for home, but what was it?
Possibly, it was the popular Korean, fermented hot bean paste, condiment, known as Kochujang.
Actually, it sound more like Ssamjang to me. I love this stuff!
“Dark Red” sort of indicated Kochujang to me. That Saamjang looks bright red. Either way, Kochujang is probbly an ingredient.
Probably, knowing Korean food… what tipped me towards Ssamjang was that the OP described it as mild/medium spicy, and Kochujang I would say is pretty spicy. Also, Ssamjang is more commonly provided in a dish for scooping out on a lettuce leaf with other stuff, IME.
Either way, I think we’re safe in saying it was one of the two!
It wasn’t in a dish like a bowl, it was in a little lidded pot with a spoon in it. It came with the Bee Bim Bop, I think it was called.
One of my favourite meals is Korean BBQ, with kochujang-smothered miso-marinated kalbe. Add in some sauteed garlic cloves and wrap it in lettuce, and it’s hard to surpass.
If it came with Bi-bim-bop, then most likely devilsknew is right, and it was Kochujang.
Ssamjang is usually used with BBQ meat wrapped in lettuce leaves with various other sides.
QFT