- Hi everybody, happy New Year, 2019 January, exciting!

So what is your resolution about cooking or food?

"I should be on a diet, I should lose my weight,"

or you don't have a resolution just like me? (laughs)

Which one to choose, in 2019, first video of this year!

I was thinking, " maybe this is very healthy food,"

so I'm going to make cheonggukjang.

Cheonggukjang is extra-strong fermented soybean paste.

"Oh, Korean soybean paste, I know about that, doenjang,"

"but what is Maangchi talking about?"

"Extra-strong fermented soybean paste?"

Yes, that's it, that's it, that's it!

Probably you saw my video,

fermented soybean paste, doenjang.

It took one year to ferment all these things

from just the soybeans, but this cheonggukjang

is it just takes only two days!

In two days, it'll be nicely fermented.

This is good for our body.

That's why I chose healthy food. But for me, it's really delicious!

Actually, this is one of my cookbook recipes.

My editor said, "Oh, it sounds too strong."

"Maangchi, are you sure you wanna include this?"

I said, "Absolutely." (laughs)

There are some, a few dishes like this in this cookbook.

This is two pounds soybeans,

I already soaked almost for 24 hours.

(plastic bags rustling)

This is two pounds, five cups.

Let's see if we have any dead beans and broken beans.

And let's wash.

(water rushes)

(beans rustle loudly)

Put this here. Fill it up with cold water.

The ratio of beans to water is 1 to 4.

I'm going to make my cheonggukjang

with these soaked beans.

So I don't need these guys.

And then, let's drain.

(water rushes)

I have to boil these beans for a long time, over very low heat.

Let's see how many cups.

One.

So 13 cups of soaked beans.

It used to be five cups of dried soybeans,

now 13 cups, they really expand a lot.

I'm going to add some water here.

I added 16 cups of water.

And now, let's boil!

Let's cook over medium-high heat

until the beans are all boiling,

then I'm going to turn down the heat to very low.

Total cooking hours is four hours.

These beans, they have to be cooked

until very, very tender and soft.

Now I cooked these almost 30 minutes.

You see? A lot of foams are floating.

(clock ticks)

So I'm going to turn down the heat to low.

Just let it boil, simmer, simmer for 3 1/2 hours

and every hour, just stir, nicely.

(bright music)

I am back! I've been cooking this for four hours.

I will show you how tender it is.

Let's pick one, see? It's very soft.

I'm going to drain these.

(spoon clanks on pot)

It smells really sweet and nutty smell!

Look at this!

This water is very sweet.

Sweet and just a little bitter.

Don't throw away, drink it as a tea.

Or just you can put some to massage. (chuckles)

Wash your face and then just put some on your face.

Now just we need to ferment this.

This is my bamboo basket.

If you don't have, you can use

even plastic, plastic shallow basket.

It should be ventilated a little bit

because bacteria all in the air,

It's called bacillus subtilis,

just attract to these.

In Korea, we usually use rice straw.

Rice straw and to attract that bacteria more easily.

But actually, I did some experiment

and also I made a recipe for my cookbook and no problem.

Put the beans in the basket.

And in the center, make a hole.

When I lived in Korea, my house floor was heated.

Right next to the boiler, there was a room

that was really hotter than any other rooms,

because it was right next to the boiler.

And I made like not this amount, more, kind of this amount.

And it was perfectly fermented, so nicely!

During the whole winter, just we ate cheonggukjang.

But now, in New York City, in my house,

there is no heated floor!

I just use my electric mat.

These beans should be wet, nice, beautiful.

Bean water, I'm going to add some here

'cause I want to make it wet.

Hemp cloth or use any cheesecloth,

cheesecloth working well.

(water trickles)

Like this.

I'm going to cover this with another cloth like this.

This is my electric mat.

Here, I put some thick blanket.

And then, before putting my cheonggukjang,

I gotta put this,

my blanket.

Then turn on level two.

My cheonggukjang, this is a precious thing

for a while in this house.

Now just that I turned on the electric mat, it's going to be

between the 110 fahrenheit to 130 fahrenheit.

So it has to be warm but not hot.

I'm going to open this two days later, 48 hours.

48 hours, something's going on inside my blanket.

It's going to be all fermented.

If I go out, "oh, what happened

to my babies, my bean babies?" (chuckles)

I have to go home quickly.

See you in two days, bye!

(bright music)

48 hours passed!

Exactly two days later.

Oh my god, look at this!

Open, open, oh wow!

Yeah, this water was full, but it is now less than 1/2.

Smells! okay great, let's go.

So take it off. See?

It smells really good!

Look at that, you see it, oh my, thread.

It's white, slimy threads, we'll call this thread.

But these enzymes are helping all our health.

Nice, look at that.

I love this smell because this is also cultural food.

So, if you never tasted it before,

when you were young, you probably think,

"oh, that smells like too much pungent".

But actually, for me, this is like my really grandmother's house smell!

This bacteria, bacillus subtilis,

protect all these beans from

other kind of harmful bacteria.

They really dominate here, no dirty,

no harmful bacteria can come.

So this is very pure clean.

I have to crush these beans.

These beans are already very soft,

so easily you can crush.

You can use mortar and pestle or food processor.

You see, while I'm doing this,

I can see all these look like spider web, you see? (chuckles)

You don't have to grind really finely,

because when you make a stew,

you should feel the beans in your mouth.

(food processor whirs)

I just did only ten seconds.

My leftover beans.

(food processor whirs)

Who thinks it looks like peanut butter? (laughs)

Totally different flavor!

Let me taste my peanut butter.

(water rushes)

So slippery. (chuckles)

And we are almost done.

So now this is my green chili, red chili pepper

(peppers crunch)

So let's make one cup bowl.

In the center, put this red chili pepper and green chili pepper,

just put it here and then add this.

Fill it up to this one cup.

And remove from the cup.

Press and shape this.

Nicely done!

And then just twist here.

This one cup cheonggukjang will be enough

for stew for four servings.

You see, nice.

I made eight bowls, each bowl is one cup.

And just a little left over.

"What you gonna do, Maangchi?"

(laughing) Your question, I will eat it raw right now.

Just I will eat it raw.

We can make stew for eight times with this.

In my next video, I'm going to make stew with this.

Cheonggukjang stew, I will use some kimchi,

fermented kimchi. It's so delicious winter food, really yummy!

This cheonggukjang is, as you saw,

I didn't add any salt or any, I didn't season anything.

So if you keep in the refrigerator,

I think only one week.

So I always freeze this.

Whenever you need to make some stew,

cheonggukjang jjigae, take out one bowl,

and thaw out on the kitchen counter

or in the refrigerator and then make stew.

So today, we made cheonggukjang.

Cheonggukjang, extra-strong fermented soybean paste.

Enjoy my recipe, see you next time, bye!

(bright music)