If you are interested in Korean cooking you might've come across the ingredient gochujang, or hot pepper paste. It is used a lot in Korean cooking and after looking up several recipes that mad my mouth water, I had to make some. Gochujang is quite hard to find in the area I live but all it takes is a train ride to London where there are many East Asian supermarkets. However, I decided to check online supermarkets first and after reading the ingredients I discovered that gochujang contained alcohol. Which therefore means it is not halal. I was kinda gutted since I wanted to make my cooking as authentic as possible but instead had to make my own concoction of ketchup and chilli powder as a replacement.
The other day, during my 4 hour break at uni (4 hours is seriously ridiculous) me and friend decided to explore the area around our uni and we came across a Chinese supermarket. They sold gochujang but after checking the ingredients, it wasn't halal. After a little browse around, I came across this:
It's not exactly 'gochujang' but the description was pretty similar. As you can see from the ingredients, no alcohol! I bought a jar and used it the other day to make ramen. Be warned, this stuff is SUPER salty so make sure you adjust your recipe so you don't increase someone's risk of kidney stones like I did. I can't compare the taste but the texture and consistency looks similar to gochujang except this sauce isn't as smooth.
Overall I'm happy with this alternative and will use this more in the future.
Happy cooking! :)
p.s BTS got their 1st win for blood, sweat and tears, wooooo!!
