Traditional Korean home-cooked meals like sujebi (pronounced soo jebay) are very inexpensive and easy to make.
It’s a stew made with a homemade dough and used as the base for many other Korean dishes.
Sujebi is typically filled with a mixture of vegetables, meat, or seafood, then flavored with ssamjang sauce and served in hot broth.
This dish is simple to prepare and costs next to nothing since the main ingredients are all commonly available.
It can be served warm or cold, and you can make it vegetarian or vegan if you prefer.
What are the main ingredients in a sujebi recipe?
Most sujebis use meat, but you can just as easily make them vegetarian.
The most popular ingredients include:
- Beans, lentils, or other dried legumes
- Dried mushrooms
- Soybean paste
- Chicken broth or water
- Vegetables like cabbage, carrots, spinach, and eggs
How long does it take to prepare a sujebi dish?
Sujebi is also popular among restaurants, and you may have noticed it on the menu of your favorite Korean restaurant.
However, if you have home-cooked sujebi, it’s not as time-consuming.
In fact, those skilled in the art of preparing sujebi say the process takes only about 15 minutes.
Sujebi is a very forgiving dish; there are various tricks you can use to speed things up and make the dough last longer.
Here’s how:
- Use a circular disk for rolling out your roll dough.
- Sprinkle flour on the table as you roll out the dough to prevent sticking.
- Use two people to place the dough in large bowls or small molds.
- Put some butter or oil on your hands and rub them throughout the dough.
As always, cookbooks will help you make a perfect sujebi every time.
These books include instructions for making many kinds of sujebis, including pumpkin seeds sujebi (banchan jeon), sautéed spicy cabbage sujebi (mugae jeon), and lemongrass sujebi (nareul ssam).
They can also teach you how to make kimchi (kimchi jeon) and other traditional side dishes that go well with this stew.
How would you describe the texture of sujebi?
Sujebi is a savory stew made with several types of dough and vegetables that are fried in a special sauce, which softens and binds the dough.
This combination makes it so the dough is soft and chewy, but not hard at all.
The thickness of the dough varies by the type of dough used, and there are different ways to prepare it.
If you’re making sujebi from scratch, it’ll take about four hours to prepare.
You can make it in advance and just add the vegetables or meat for a later serving after frying them.
The sujebi melts in your mouth like a regular savory pie crust when cooked properly.
The traditional sujebi recipe uses flour, yeast, and water to prepare a dough.
Flour, water, sugar and salt are mixed together to make the dough.
Adding kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) will also add flavor and variety to the dish.
The type of flour used determines how thick the sujebi will be.
You can use rice flour for sujebi without onions, garlic or salt.
For sujebi with garlic or onions, you’ll want to use fresh whole-wheat flour instead.
Sujebi is traditionally served hot in a hearty broth with ssamjang sauce, which gives it a unique flavor that combines the mixture of salty, sweet and sour flavors.
What are some unique ways to serve sujebi?
You can serve sujebi over rice with a side of kimchi, kimchi soup, or bibimbap.
Or you can make it into a taco bowl by placing it in flour tortillas and adding your favorite toppings.
It’s really the perfect meal to make ahead and have ready when you get home.
What type of soup is served with sujebi?
Sujebi is made with only a few ingredients.
The most popular sujebi filling includes potatoes or rice.
You can also add rice or noodles to make it into a rice or noodle dish.
Other main ingredients that go into sujebi are fish, beef, pork, or chicken.
What are some tips for making a successful sujebi dish?
To begin your sujebi recipe, use common ingredients found in the grocery store.
If you want to make it vegetarian, choose vegetables you find at the grocery store instead of meat, seafood or eggs.
How is sujebi different from other types of Korean dishes?
Most people think of sujebi as a traditional Korean dish, but there are actually quite a few different types of sujebi.
Traditional sujebi is made with dough made from wheat or buckwheat flour and cooked in broth.
The dough is filled with finely minced meat, vegetables or seafood, then seasoned with ssamjang sauce until it’s served hot.
Another type of sujebi is called anchovy sujebi.
Anchovies are added to the dough while it’s cooking and are then sliced up into bite-sized pieces and layered on top of the meat mixture before serving.
Anchovy sujebi is a bit more expensive than traditional sujebi because the anchovies cost about $1.50 USD per pound (450g).
Sujebi is also often made with bamboo shoots instead of (or in addition to) carrots or other vegetables.
Bamboo shoots are available at most Asian grocery stores and can be substituted for any other vegetable you’d normally use.
What is the best type of dough for making sujebi?
Sujebi is made with a soft yeast dough or kkakdugi (Korean for “white turnip flour”).
This dough is made with white turnips, beancurd, water, and white vinegar.
The dough is formed into small balls and allowed to ferment (yeast) overnight before cooking.
Other than the type of dough used in making sujebi, there’s not much difference between other types of Korean dishes.
Seasonings and ingredients are usually the same.
Both khinkji bokkeum (a fiery pork belly stew) and sujebi use the same spices.
What are some common accompaniments for sujebi?
The main ingredients for sujebi include shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, green onions and kimchi.
Other vegetables and toppings can be added as desired.
Choose a sauce that complements the dish you’re making:
- Kimchi is a staple of Korean cooking.
- It’s a spicy cabbage pickled in brine and can be added to sujebi.
- Ssamjang sauce is the savory sauce that typically accompanies sujebi.
- It’s made with gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste), sesame oil, garlic, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and salt.
- Seafood or meat can be added to sujebi if you like.
- Try adding uncured bacon, diced pork belly or shredded chicken.
How can you make a vegan or vegetarian version of sujebi?
If you prefer a vegan or vegetarian version of sujebi, choose a tofu and tofu soup base, such as silken tofu or extra firm tofu.
It is also available at many mainstream grocery stores (check the refrigerated section).
You can also make your own soybean paste.
This is completely free of animal ingredients and will work well in this dish.
You simply need to make soy sauce by soaking dried soybeans in hot water, then straining out the beans.
To make the dough, mix 1 tablespoon of flour to 2 tablespoons of water and knead until it forms into a soft ball.
Add more water if needed.
If you prefer sujebi with meat, add 2 tablespoons of minced pork or beef in place of the vegetables.
If you would like a seafood version, replace the pork or beef with chopped shrimp, squid or crabmeat.
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups plain flour
- 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 4.5 cups Korean soup stock
- 200 g potato
- 50 g onion
- 75 g carrots
- 100 g zucchini
- 100 g oyster mushrooms
- 1 Tbsp Korean soup soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 20 g green onion
Instructions
- Flour, cornflour, and salt should then be added to the prepared medium bowl. Add water a little at a time, mixing with a spatula as you go. (For example, add the first third of the water and stir the flour thoroughly. Mix in a further third of the water.) Keep doing this up until a rough dough develops.
- Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until it is smooth, elastic, and sticks together tightly. It ought to be sealed tightly in a plastic bag. The dough should be refrigerated for two hours.
- The soup stock should be started boiling in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and potato. for around ten minutes.
- Place a small dish of water next to the burner while the soup is simmering. To easily stretch and pull the dough, use this to wet your fingers, primarily your thumb and index finger. Making the dough flakes thin also aids in preventing doughy bites.
- Add the salt, soy sauce, minced garlic, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms after lowering the heat to medium. Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes, stirring periodically, or until they are softened but not overcooked. Pieces of cooked dough should appear transparent and to be floating in the broth. Add the green onions as a garnish.
- Put some kimchi on the menu.
Video
Nutrition
My blog is all about creating delicious meals with ingredients that are easy to find in your local grocery store. I’m passionate about making yummy meals that I can share with my friends and family.