Soy bean paste
Name Variations[]
- bean sauce
- bean paste
- Taucheo
- dwen jang
- doenjang
About soy bean paste[]
Doenjang is a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste. Its name literally means "thick paste" in Korean.
Taucheo is salty, but very flavorful with a smokey and somewhat yeasty aroma. It delivers a depth that can’t be found in regular salt. Taucheo is used generously in many Nyonya recipes such as stewed pork ribs, meat, tofu, and many seafood dishes. It’s an indispensable Nyonya ingredient.
Soy paste is one of the world’s oldest condiments and is made by fermenting soybeans with roasted wheat (and sometimes barley). It is likely that its origins are as a preservative and, as with many preservatives, it is very high in salt. Soy paste is a brewed product and has a savory flavor that activates the umami taste buds. As such, used sparingly, it is a fantastic flavor enhancer.
It can add a lot of flavor but it can also add a ton of salt - enough that people who are salt sensitive or on restricted sodium diets can get into trouble. Traditional soy sauce has about 1100mg of sodium per tablespoon (give or take a hundred milligrams). That’s the equivalent of a half teaspoon of salt.
Fortunately, there are excellent quality lower sodium soy pastes on the market and there is almost no difference in flavor between them and traditional soy sauce. There is, however, half the sodium in low salt versions (only about 550mg per tablespoon).
Nutritional information[]
Per 1 Tbsp:
- 10 calories | 4.5g fat | 0.44g sat fat | 0.73g mono fat | 0g protein | 0g carbohydrates | 0mg sodium | 0mg cholesterol