Tnee Cheow (in Korean, Gochujang, Kochuchang, sweet bean sauce) is made from glutinous rice flour, red chili pepper and soya bean paste. Sugar is then added and the mixture is left for fermentation in earthen jar for a certain number of years. Thee cheow is also widely used in Korean cuisine and as a dipping sauce for Bulgogi or other Korean style barbecue meat. It contains Vitamin B2 and Beta Carotene. This versatile sauce is often mistakenly identified as the Sichuan spicy fermented red bean paste (Toubanjiang), which is virtually different in texture and taste!
The Tnee Cheow is pungent but full of taste and it is one of the most important ingredients in Penang Chee Cheong Fun sauce beside the ‘heh ko’ (prawn paste) and ‘or cheow’ (black sauce).
It is quite hard to find this type of sauce in KL. Most of the food vendors here made their own chee cheong fun sweet sauce. KL chee cheong fun vendors uses the brown coloured sweet sauce which is lack of the pungent and unique taste of the original Tnee Cheow (Sweet Bean Paste Sauce, Gochujang, Kochuchang, Hangul 고추장, Hanja 고추醬 ).
There are a few factories in the northern states making thee cheow but you can hardly find one in KL. Anyway, I came across one old man in Kepong Baru market who sells a variety of sauces in his mini bicycle basket. He normally parks his bicycle in the alley next to an aquarium shop.
I bought this container of Thee Cheow from him and happily took it home! I like to use it as a dipping sauce for my Yong Tau Fu and vegetables. The sauce is a little bit pungent and sweet but taste real good!
