Culinary Explorer
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Agwi-jjim (Braised Monkfish with Bean Sprouts)
Created by Chef Jeong-sun
Firm monkfish buried under crisp soybean sprouts, minari, and a red gochugaru sauce thickened at the end; Masan's market dish asks for heat, timing, and a steady hand.
Agwi-jjim lives or dies by the bean sprouts. People look at the red sauce first, but the crunch is the point: thick soybean sprouts stacked high, cooked just long enough to bend, not long enough to collapse. If they go limp, the dish loses its back.
My teacher made me watch the pot with the lid on and my hands behind me. 눈동냥, 귀동냥: borrowing with the eyes and ears. Monkfish is lean and firm, almost springy, and it needs a hard, brief braise, not a long stew. The sauce must cling at the end, glossy from starch, but it should not bury the fish under gochujang sweetness. This is gochugaru's work, clean heat and red color.
Tonight this dish will ask you to prepare everything before the heat starts. Cut the fish, rinse the sprouts, mix the seasoning, stir the starch slurry, and only then turn on the stove. Once the sprouts go in, you move quickly. Serve it wide and hot, with rice, kimchi, and a few quiet banchan beside it, because agwi-jjim is already loud enough.
Ingredients
monkfish tail or pieces
Quantity
800g
bone-in if possible, cut into 2-inch chunks
coarse salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for rinsing the fish
soju or rice wine
Quantity
1 tablespoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| monkfish tail or piecesbone-in if possible, cut into 2-inch chunks | 800g |
| coarse saltfor rinsing the fish | 1 tablespoon |
| soju or rice wine | 1 tablespoon |
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