Gochujang is a fermented chili paste made from red pepper powder and is used in a lot of Korean dishes. The great thing about this recipe is that it makes a lot and can be stored for up to a year in the refrigerator. It isn’t too hard to make, but it does take some time to acquire the right ingredients. I could not find soybean flour/powder at the local grocery store so I bought it at an asian market instead. Malt powder is the same thing as “malted milk powder” which can be found at the grocery store. Glutinous rice powder is the same as rice flour and I bought the “mochiko” brand which worked nicely. I am letting the jars sit out in the sun for a few days to ferment and age properly. Right away, the gochujang had a nice spicy and sweet flavor so I can only expect it to get better with age.
Gochujang (Korean Red Pepper Paste)
(Makes about 10 Cups)
Printable Version
Ingredients:
- 12 cups warm water
- 2 cups malt powder
- 2 cups glutinous rice powder
- 2 cups soybean powder
- 4 cups fine red pepper powder
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 cup honey
Directions:
- Pour the water in a large saucepan. Place the malt powder into a cheese cloth and swirl the contents around in the water and squeeze until the water is a light brown color.
- Add the glutinous rice powder and bring to a boil, stirring, for a few minutes and then turn off the heat and let stand about 30 minutes.
- Bring back to boil, and reduce the mixture by half, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and let cool for a couple of hours.
- Add the soy bean powder and red pepper powder, and mix well. Leave again for about 30 minutes.
- Add the salt and the honey and mix well.
- The sauce can be used right away but let the mixture stand in the saucepan for another 24 hours before pouring into sterilized jars.
Can i subtitute malt powder with horlick?
I have never heard of that brand but I think you can as it appears to be a malt mix made with barley and wheat flours. Good luck!
Owh its malted milk hot drink same like ovaltine.
If it’s like ovaltine it would have additional flavors added to it so maybe that’s not a good idea. If you must, try it but if you can find plain malt powder even better!
First, if it only needs the malt flour for several squeezes, do we really needs a whole lot of it? What do you do to the rest of it that’s already been wet and squeezed? What is the purpose of the flour in the recipe?
Second, can we use the whole then grounded fermented soybeans instead of flour?
You can use less if you like, i just can’t guarantee the same results. I discarded the leftover malt powder after i squeezed it. I believe the soy flour plays a role in the fermentation. It would probably be even better if you ground the soybeans yourself! Good luck.
Couldn’t find Malt flour in local grocery stores, found online though…
I understand that the soybean flour is the one that’s get fermented. I thought if we replaced the soy flour with the “ground up fermented soy beans” (already been fermented), we could taste the flavor of fermented soy beans in the sauce right away.
Next question that came up in mind: How do you store the sauce? Do we need to sterilize the bottle and give them the hot water bath afterward? Or leave them in a non air tight sealed bottle, or in open bottle? Thank you so much!
I think the fermented beans ground up would be fine. I stored it in large (not air tight) glass jars, sterilizing the jars in boiling water for a minute. I still have the jars in the fridge and it’s holding up fine. If you wanted to be safe you could use air tight/sealable jars. I know that traditionally made gochujang is left out in the sun in clay pots, so to mimic that I left the jars out a few days in the sun.
After I had all of the ingredients, I finally made the sauce. Here is the report:
1. Malt flour, seemed a waste to use a whole lot as on the recipe. The flour did not wet through the middle of the ball, when I cut open the cheese cloth after swirling it in the water.
2. Do not forget to add the rice flour to the cold water and shift the soy flour before adding it to the mix, make it easier to mix with no lump. (I learned it the hard way)
3. I left the sauce in the pot for 3 days, bottled it all up then “hot water bath” until it hot and the lid pop. I live in FL with too many animals, rats, bugs and ants out there and am afraid to leave the sauce in the sun.
I love the hot sauce. Thanks so much!
Can I substitute the malt powder? I’m allergic to Gluten. All storebought Gochujuang sauces have gluten in them, so I’m trying to find a recipe that can exclude it…
I haven’t come across a recipe that excludes gluten so I’m not sure what you could substitute for it. I’d try asking a forum like chowhound…they might be able to offer some ideas. good luck!
Hi there.. can i substitute malt powder to barley powder because i can’t find it here in my country….