How To Make Kimchi Jjigae- Kimchi Stew

Ready to cook another Korean dish? This recipe has become one of my favorite Korean dishes. It's very easy to make, it warms the tummy and the soul, ha ha, and of course it is very delicious.

Koreans say that kimchi is the representative dish of the Korean dining table, and rightly so.It is never missing during mealtimes, it is always there, even in restaurants. And in Korean restaurants, when they see that you have finished the kimchi in front of you, they always replenish it, for free. There are so many ways to eat kimchi, and also there are so many varieties of kimchi, that each region in Korea have a different kind, different ingredients and ways of preparing it.

During the cold months, kimchi jjigae, or kimchi stew is one of the most common dishes served. Its warm broth is sure to warm the tummy and your heart, as I wrote earlier.

Since I started making kimchi, you can check the recipe here, there is never a time that I don't have it in my refrigerator anymore. So I also try to learn other ways on how to eat it, aside from eating it as it is. Let's start cooking then!

In this recipe, I used:

around 1 cup of kimchi or more

1 medium sized tofu, cut into cubes

a piece of pork belly ( liempo) sliced into cubes/ 1 canned tuna 

1 piece onion, sliced thinly

green onions, cut into 1 inch length

salt and sugar

Here is the cooked dish looking warm and inviting.

I use the soft tofu in this recipe, but the hard one can also be used if you can't find the soft one. Tofu is a good source of protein, iron and calcium. It also contains all eight essential amino acids, as well as a source of manganese, magnesium and other minerals. Tofu is a very healthy food.

Green onions is also a staple in a Korean kitchen. They almost always add green onions in all their dishes. So here I sliced it into about an inch length each.

To start cooking, heat your pan with about a tablespoon of cooking oil. Notice that I don't use a lot of oil, since I am using a non-stick pan, and also it is not good to have oily soup. Saute the onions for about a minute or two. 

After that, you can add your meat. What I do with my meat is I brown it beforehand, because I like to render the fat, so that it is not oily when I mix it into any dish I am cooking. If you don't like doing that, you can add your raw meat into the pan and saute it until it is browned. If you don't eat pork, you can substitute the meat with canned tuna.

After your meat is browned, you can then add about a cup or more of kimchi. The secret to having a very good kimchi stew is to have old kimchi. The older the kimchi, the more flavorful will be your stew. Saute until the kimchi is well incorporated with the meat and the flavors infused, about 3-4 minutes.

After this I add water for the soup, add some kimchi juice for more flavor as well. To balance the sourness, you may want to add a teaspoon of sugar. If you want your stew to be really spicy, now is the time to add more chilli powder or flakes. If not, you can just season it to your liking.

Bring it to a boil, and after it does, simmer it for about 15 minutes until the flavors of the kimchi has been totally infused into the soup. Have a taste and add whatever is lacking, whether salt or more sugar. Add your cubed tofu pieces at this time and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

Add the sliced green onions last, to bring out more aroma and as a beautiful garnish and to make the dish with more color other than orange or reddish thing. Turn off the heat.

Transfer the dish to a serving bowl, and you are ready to eat. Perfect with piping hot rice. The soup is really very good especially on rainy days when the weather is a bit chilly, but you can have this any time you want. Bon appetit!

For more recipes, you can go to this page.