A Year to Learn Korean Cooking: Gyeran Jjim

KimchiRednecks

Oct 19

Today let's learn about cooking gyeran jjim 계란찜 at home! Gyeran jjim, or Korean steamed egg, is a deliciously silky, fluffy egg souffle-style side dish. This dish is a popular option for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

About the South of Seoul "A Year to Learn Korean Cooking' Series

Many of us live in South Korea for only a year and we want to learn how to make Korean food. However, time flies past faster than we can imagine. At South of Seoul, we decided to create a simple series that will offer 2-4 dishes to learn each month so that when you leave South Korea you have a slew of new dishes you feel comfortable making anywhere.

This series is a collaboration with Kimchi Rednecks. In 2020 they created the first blog in this series Online Resources for Learning to Cook Korean Food. These two love to have adventures in the kitchen and share the results with their community. Be sure to follow Kimchi Rednecks on YouTube for other great videos about living life in South Korea.

About Gyeran Jjim

Gyeran jjim 계란찜, also known as volcano steamed eggs, is a popular banchan (side dish) that is served for breakfast, lunch or dinner both in restaurants at home. Gyeran 계란 means eggs and jjim 찜 refers to a dish that is steamed. This dish is also occasionally referred to as dalgyaljjim 달걀찜 because dalgyal 달걀 is another word used for eggs in Korea.

Gyeran jjim is a simple dish made up of eggs and broth, often with other ingredients like green onions, sesame seeds or even other vegetables. Also, the broth can vary from water to anchovy stock, chicken stock or vegetable stock.

Many Korean barbecue locations have this side dish on the menu. It is also frequently eaten as breakfast with a bowl of rice or bowl of doenjang jjigae 된장찌개.

This dish is often cooked in at ttukbaegi 뚝배기, which is an earthenware pot with a thick bottom that holds heat in well. If you are cooking this without a ttukbaegi, make sure your pot has a thick bottom and holds heat well.

Biggest Hurdle in Cooking Gyeran Jjim

This dish has been on our list for a long time. We both love this dish so much. Therefore, the idea of not being able to make it home gave us quite a bit of anxiety. I worried about the dish being flat and deflated instead of fluffy and silky.

However, I found that the real challenge is ensuring you don't overcook the dish. If you want a velvety smooth texture, you need to whisk the eggs thoroughly. We used the method that heats the ttukbaegi first and then adds the broth to it. You bring your broth to a soft boil, not a rapid high boil. When you add the egg mixture to the broth, you must whisk the eggs into the broth for that silkiness. If you don't incorporate both the egg mixture and the broth, you might end up with strands of cooked egg.

If you want a lighter and silkier texture to your gyeran jjim, having more stock than eggs will help but also cause it to deflate faster. However, if you have more eggs in your dish than stock, the dish will be heavier in texture but hold the explosive, volcanic, steamy state longer.

Below you will see our most recent gyeran jjim in our Instagram Feed (feel free to follow us on Insta for more local life content!).

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Three Recommended Cooking Gyeran Jjim Videos to Watch

You will find that there are many methods for cooking gyeran jjim. The most often used in restaurants is ttukbaegi gyeran jjim 뚝배기 계란찜. When that eggy goodness comes to your table steaming and bubbling, it is amazing.

Check out the following videos to see other methods and recipes for cooking gyeran jjim at home. We hope you will be as excited with your success as we were.

Korean American Cooking Gyeran Jjim

Korean Cooking Gyeran Jjim

American in Korea Cooking Gyeran Jjim

Let Us Know How It Turns Out

When you make gyeran jjim for the first time at home, be sure to leave a comment and let us know how it turned out! Also, if you live in Pyeongtaek, you can even share your success (or failure) with us in the Pyeongtaek Food & Fun Facebook group.

If you are looking for other dishes (Korean or otherwise) or reviews of restaurants, be sure to check out the KimchiRednecks channel or check out our social media accounts on Facebook or Instagram, where we often share what we are cooking or eating.