The autumn is stew season for me, and this Korean stew fits right in with that as far as I'm concerned. A key ingredient for Doenjang Jjigae is the Doenjang. It is a fermented soybean paste that resembles miso. Doenjang is coarser than miso, and you can still find bits of soybean in it. The taste is also a lot stronger than white miso.

Many recipes for Doenjang Jjigae contain fish, while it is also very tasty without it. Instead, I use chestnut mushrooms and add some seaweed to give the recipe some extra flavour. It is completely optional though, as it is perfectly fine without. Another challenge is that most recipes for Doenjang Jjigae call for zucchini, even when that's not in season. Fortunately, I'm not the only one who thought that Doenjang Jjigae with pumpkin could be very tasty, and there are a number of recipes ️ for it. This recipe is a plant-based version.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can be pretty loose with the proportions. Is it not salt enough? Then add some extra doenjang or a splash of soy sauce . You can also add vegetables to your own taste. The only vegetable that has not pleased me so far is eggplant.

Serve with rice and possibly kimchi.

Tips

• No Doenjang in the house but you do have miso? Then use that instead of Doenjang. White miso does have much less flavor than Doenjang, so add some extra if needed
• No Doenjang in the house but you do have ssamjang (a pre-mixed sauce made from doenjang and gochujang)? You can use that just fine, but be careful with the extra gochugaru
• Instead of pumpkin, you can use other vegetables. Cauliflower certainly won't look out of place either