The Best Spicy Korean Braised Potatoes and Shishito Peppers (vegan)

The BEST spicy Korean braised potatoes and shishito peppers recipe that you will love forever! Potatoes, shishito peppers, onion, and carrots are braised in the delicious sweet and spicy sauce! This recipe is vegan friendly!

Korean Braised Potatoes

Have you heard of the Korean word “Ban-chan”? Ban-chan is a various side dish that Korean eat with their rice or noodle. And braised potatoes are one of the well-known and popular ban-chan. There are two types of braised potatoes.

• Sweet and salty braised potato – potatoes are braised in sweet soy sauce. Because it’s sweet and salty, it’s a very popular side dish among children in Korea.
• Spicy and sweet braised potato – the recipe I’m sharing with you all today is the spicy and sweet braised potato. The spicy heat comes from gochujang (Korean pepper paste) and gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes).

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Shishito peppers

What is shishito peppers?

Shishito peppers are thin skin, wrinkled peppers that are bright green in color. They are usually mild and slightly sweet in taste. Although most shishito peppers are mild in general, I’ve heard that 1 out of 10 can be spicy. The hot weather can also contribute to the spicy level of the peppers.

You can easily buy shishito peppers at your local grocery stores these days. Trader Joe’s also carries shishito peppers and you can always find them at an Asian grocery store.

Cooking methods for shishito peppers

• Steamed – Korean people like to steam shishito peppers covered in corn starch or potato starch. Then those peppers are tossed together with spicy soy sauce.
• Blister or pan-fried – It’s not hard to find blistered shishito peppers as a popular appetizer in restaurants. But you can also pan-fry shishito peppers with mushroom to make a killer stir fry dish.
• Braised – Due to the thin skin of shishito peppers, they are great in soaking up whatever flavor(s) that the braising liquid has.

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Main Ingredients in Spicy Korean Braised Potatoes and shishito peppers

• Potato – You can use any type of potato but I personally like to use either white potato or red skin potato. They are better at retaining their shape during the braising process.
• Shishito peppers – It adds mild spiciness as well as sweetness. Shishito peppers are great for soaking up the flavor of the sauce or braising liquid.
• Carrot – Another vegetable that gets sweet when cooked. The sweetness of the carrot balances the savoriness of the potato.
• Onion – When the onion is cooked, it naturally is sweet in taste. Also, it provides a different texture to the dish.
• Gochujang – Gochujang is a Korean fermented pepper paste. It’s sweet and spicy in taste. My favorite brand of gochujang is this one.
• Gochugaru – Gochugaru is Korean red pepper flakes. It adds lingering warmth, spiciness, and heat to the dish. I highly recommend buying a Korean brand of gochugaru rather than an American brand. They are not only cheaper but they better in taste as well. This is one of the main ingredients in making my famous vegan kimchi!
• Soy sauce – Soy sauce is adding the much needed salty component to the dish. Soy sauce is not only great in seasoning the dish but also adds great umami flavor!

Tips on making spicy Korean braised potatoes and shishito peppers

• Size of the vegetable – The smaller the size of potatoes and carrots, the quicker it will cook. But if you are worried about retaining the shapes of vegetables, you just need to cook them a little longer.
• Cooking time – This is pretty much a no-fail recipe. If your potatoes are not cooked, just braise them longer with a little more added water. If your braised potatoes and shishito peppers look watery, cook them on a higher heat with the lid off with occasional stirring.
• Shishito pepper portion – You can add as much (up to 1 and 1/2 cup) and as little (you can even omit them if you don’t like shishito peppers or can’t find them) as you want.

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