Korean spicy paste

Ever since I was introduced to it in college, I've loved dishes that use Korean spicy paste (sometimes also called gochujang). It's very spicy, but is also made with rice and a bit of sugar, so it's sticky and a little sweet as well. I usually just put it in stir fries, but we recently tried this healthy and easy recipe from Gourmet magazine. Here's the link to epicurious.com and here's our version of the receipe as well (the original isn't very spicy)

Spicy soba noodles with mushrooms and cabbage

Sauce:
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tsp soy sauce
3 or more Tbs of Korean spicy paste
1 Tbs honey
Noodles:
3 Tbs sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs finely chopped or grated ginger
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2 lb stemmed and sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 smaller (1 lb) napa cabbage, thinly sliced
6 scallions, thinly sliced
8 oz soba noodles
1 cup shelled frozen edamame

Stir together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside. Toast the sesame seeds in a skillet until they start to turn golden (burnt come fairly rapidly after this, so watch them), and then move a bowl. Set some water to boil for the noodles, and add some salt. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and then saute the ginger and garlic until they release fragrance, around 30 seconds to a minute. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushroom start to become tender. Reduce the heat and the add the scallions and cabbage, and cook down 6-8 minutes.

While the cabbage is cooking down, add the soba noodles and edamame to the boiling water. Cook this ~6 minutes or according to the instructions on the package. Drain when done, and add to a large bowl. Add the sesame seeds and veggies and stir.