Altang- Spicy Pollock Roe Stew

Hey there! How are you? I'm doing much better now that I am no longer sick. I'm glad to be back to my normal self. This week I have decided to make Altang which is a spicy Pollock roe stew. I had never encountered Pollock roe before but I was inspired to try this dish after watching the BIGBANG Happy Together Special. At the end of the episode they all have a dish that they brought and in T.O.P's dish he used a piece of salted Pollock roe on top and I thought it was interesting. Then I was perusing my new cook book and saw that this recipe used Pollock roe so I decided to try it. Pollock roe was definitely an interesting ingredient to work with. I would like to try a dish in future that utilizes the Pollock roe in its raw form.
This week my playlist has moved away from it's BIGBANG influence. Don't worry, I still mainly listen to BIGBANG but this week some other artists have caught my attention. The song Catch Me by UP10TION has been playing on repeat. It's such a fun and catchy song, plus the boys have got some cool dance moves. The music video is funny, strange and playful, plus you can turn on the subtitles so you know what the lyrics mean. I like to play this song in the morning because it helps to wake me up and get me going. The other song on my playlist is Crazy by 4MINUTE. This is one of my favorite songs. I love singing along with it because it makes me feel like a little bit of a badass. Girl Power all the way!
Now onto the recipe!

Ingredients
5 ounces Korean radish (mu) or daikon, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices and then into bite-size pieces (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons fermented soybean paste (doenjang)
3 cups water
1 (12-ounce) package frozen Pollock roe (naengdong-myeong-ran), thawed in the refrigerator
4 or 5 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons Korean hot pepper flakes (gochu-garu)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 scallions, cut diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
1 green Korean chili pepper (cheong-gochu), stemmed and sliced
1 red Korean chili pepper (hong-gochu), stemmed and sliced
1 ounce (about 1/2 cup) chrysanthemum greens (ssuk-gat) washed and left whole or cut into 3-inch lengths, or a small handful of basil.

Step 1.
Combine the radish, onion, soybean paste, and water in a shallow 10-inch pot or saute pan. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the onion is almost translucent, about 12 minutes.

(I forgot to add the water during this step so my onions and radish cooked at a different speed)

Step 2.
Add the fish roe, garlic, hot pepper flakes, and salt, turn the heat down to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

 

Step 3.
Scatter the scallions, chili peppers, and chrysanthemum greens over the top of the boiling stew, cover, and cook for another 3 minutes. Serve.

I am really happy with how the recipe turned out. This stew was really delicious but really spicy. I think next time I'd add less red pepper flakes. I also think this would be a tasty stew to make with fish instead of the Pollock roe. I hope you all enjoyed this weeks adventure! I have some fun changes coming in the next few weeks so keep an eye out. I hope you have a great week!

XOXO,
Rachel