Gochujang Noodle Bowls Two Ways

A few years ago, when Liviu and I were visiting our friend Michelle in Florida, she made a tasty gochujang noodle dish for us for dinner. It was a bit spicy and a bit sour and the gochujang – red chili paste used in Korean cooking – was a bit sweet and gave good heat without overpowering everything. Needless to say, I liked it so much that I asked for the recipe! Over the past few years, I’ve played around with the dish to make it extra saucy and a bit spicy. Now, I have two versions of it: my standard sour and spicy noodle bowls, and a version that is sweeter with a thicker sauce. I’m sharing my typical recipe as well as the ‘sweet’ variation below. Here’s to you, Michelle! Thanks for the inspiration.

Gochujang Noodle Bowls

Adapted from Hello Fresh | Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon high-heat oil (I like sunflower or safflower)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 inches of ginger, minced, yields about 2 tbsp
• 4 green onions, sliced, with the white bottoms and green tops divided
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 8-12 oz red cabbage, sliced into bite-size ribbons*
• 8 oz frozen udon noodles, thawed
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp gochujang**
• 3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
• ½ cup water
• 2 soft boiled eggs
• Sesame seeds to garnish

* I typically use about half of a small red cabbage, but sometimes I buy a bag of pre-shredded red cabbage as well. Either option is fine, but pre-shredded cabbage cooks more quickly.

**One note on gochujang: It can be salty! If you’re sensitive to salt or spice, you may want to start with half of the amount of gochujang I’ve suggested, and add more to taste.

Instructions

1. Prepare all of the vegetables and soft boil and peel your eggs.
2. Assemble the sauce. Mix together sugar, rice vinegar, water, and gochujang in a bowl or shake in a tightly-sealed jar. Mix or shake until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Heat a wok or large saute pan over medium high heat and add oil to the pan. When the oil shimmers, add garlic, ginger, and the white parts of the green onions. Cook for one minute, stirring frequently.
4. Add carrots to the saute pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often.
5. Add cabbage to the saute pan and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring often.
6. Add udon noodles to the saute pan and pour sauce over everything. Mix and turn the heat under the saute pan to high, and stir often until the water is mostly evaporated and there is a thin sauce clinging to the noodles.
7. Divide the contents of the pan between your serving bowls and top with the green tops of the green onions, sesame seeds, and a soft boiled egg. I like to barely slice through the side of the soft boiled egg once I’ve added it to the bowl so that I can open it up and mix everything together.

Sweet variation: Assemble the sauce in a small saucepan. Add ¼ cup to ½ cup tomato sauce – I usually use the liquid left from cans of whole peeled tomatoes. Cook this sauce over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until it’s thickened. Add it to the rest of the dish as directed in step 6 above.