Spicy Korean Seafood Stew (Haemul Jeongol)

Key Ingredients for Spicy Korean Seafood Stew

1. Seafood

This seafood combination is my favourite for Haemul Jongol, because it makes the stew sweet, with an umami blend that is unbeatable. The variety of texture and flavour is also utterly delightful. Of course, make sure they’re fresh. You can use any combination of seafood here though, use what’s freshest at your market.

How to Clean Seafood for the Stew

Let me tell you the worse feeling in the world: cooking up a delicious seafood stew, only to bite into gritty sand! Blegh! Properly cleaning your seafood is essential for a fresh, flavorful stew.

Here’s how I clean the clams, crabs, and prawns for this recipe:

Cleaning Clams (Remove the Sandy Grit)

Clams often contain sand and grit that can ruin the texture of your stew. Follow these steps for clean, grit-free clams:

• Rinse Well:
  • Place the clams in a colander and rinse them under cold running water to remove surface dirt.

• Soak in Saltwater:
  • Dissolve 2 tbsp (30 g) of salt in 4 cups (1 liter) of cold water in a large bowl.
  • Submerge the clams and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours for heavily sandy clams). This encourages the clams to spit out sand.

• Rinse Again:
  • Remove the clams from the water (don’t pour the water with the clams, as the sand will settle at the bottom). Rinse thoroughly under cold water again.

For a more detailed guide on how to clean clams, see this post.

2. Spicy Korean Base Paste

This spicy blend is the backbone of the stew’s flavour, creating the stew’s bold, spicy profile.

• Korean Chili Flakes (Gochugaru)

• Sesame Oil

• Korean Chilli Paste (Gochujang): I prefer my stew with a ‘cleaner’ taste, leaning on the fresh sweetness and flavour of the seafood. This is why I don’t add as much gochujang as most recipes out there.

• Soy Sauce: Since we decreased the gochujang, we add a dash bit more soy sauce to balance out the flavours.

• Ginger Paste

• Garlic Paste

3. Dashi/Yuksu: Seafood Anchovy-Kelp Broth

This traditional Korean stock provides the umami base that ties the whole dish together.

• Dried Anchovies

• Dried Kelp (kombu)

• Spring Onion Whites

Traditionally, you will need to boil anchovies with kelp, but here’s my little secret: I rarely use kelp, since I don’t always have it in my pantry. I also love the flavour of dried anchovies, so I’m happy to omit kelp.

You can shortcut this by using dashi stock.

4. Vegetables & Soft Tofu

To complete the meal, of course we need to add some vegetables and fibre! Any of your favourite vegetables will work for this, but some classics include:

• Napa cabbage

• Mushrooms

• Zucchini

In this recipe, I used enoki mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower, which work to soak up the flavourful broth beautifully.

Adding soft tofu adds a lovely soft texture to the meal. It also complements the spicy seafood broth!

For garnish, add the greens of the spring onions. Optional, add green chilli peppers for a fresh hit of spice!

Key Steps to Making Seafood Korean Stew

1. Prepare the Broth

• Bring water, dried anchovies, kelp and spring onion roots to a boil in a medium pot.

• Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

• Discard the anchovies, kelp and roots.

2. Build the stew base

• While the broth is simmering, make the seasoning paste by combining gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic and ginger paste.

• Stir the paste into the into the broth.

• Let it simmer for 5 minutes to meld the flavours.

3. Cook the Seafood & Vegetables

• Add the shrimp, crabs, and clams/mussels to the pot.

• Add in vegetables as well, along with soft tofu. If you want the vegetables more tender, add before the seafood.

• Cover and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the clams/mussels open and the shrimp turn pink.

4. Serve & Enjoy!

• Once the seafood cooks, turn off the heat. Garnish with spring onions.

• Serve immediately!

• Ladle the stew into bowls, garnish with sliced green onions or chili peppers for extra heat, and serve with a side of steamed rice.