kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)

Kimchi jjigae: a savory, porky, spicy stew.

Kimchi jjigae, another quintessential Korean dish. Most kids who’ve grown up with Korean-speaking parent(s) have eaten this stew. In my version of this classic, I use both uncured pork belly and bacon. I love the texture of the uncured pork belly and the smokiness of the bacon; together, they’re absolutely delicious. This has to be eaten with white rice—the savory and spicy flavors mixing with the white rice is SHUT UP good.

Ingredients:

This will make three servings.

• 2½ cups of kimchi, cut into bite size pieces. Important to note: The kimchi that you use for this recipe can’t be the kind that’s just been freshly made. You want the kimchi to have been sitting in your fridge for a week, or more, until it has a more sour flavor.

• 1/2 cup of pork belly, chopped

• 1/3 cup of thick-cut bacon, chopped

• 1/2 cup of white onion, sliced

• 1/3 cup of kimchi juice

• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce

• 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder

• 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder

• 1½ teaspoon of sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon of dasida (beef stock powder)

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

• 2½ cups of water

• 1/2 block of firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch slices (This is 7-8 oz. depending on the brand.)

Here jjigae jjijae jjigae…. ingredients for the stew. Not pictured: 2½ cups of water.

Directions:

• In a pot (already hot) on medium high heat, add the pork belly, bacon and onion. Fry/stir for 2-3 minutes, until the onion becomes soft.

After frying/stirring for 2-3 minutes, the onion becomes soft.

• Once the onion has softened, add the kimchi. Stir all of the ingredients well.

• Let the kimchi, pork belly, bacon and onions cook for 5-6 minutes. During this time, stir every 30 seconds.

• Next, turn the heat down to medium. Then add the onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, dasida, salt, fish sauce, kimchi juice and water to the pot. Stir, then let this cook, covered with a lid, for 15-18 minutes.

Let the ingredients cook together for 15-18 minutes on medium heat.

• Add the tofu. Take a large spoon and pour the stew over the tofu.

After adding the tofu, take a large spoon to pour the stew over it, so the tofu becomes incorporated without breaking.

• Increase the heat to medium high.

• Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes.

• Turn off the heat.

• Serve with white rice and banchan (Korean side dishes) and enjoy! Kimchi jjigae also tastes great the next day for leftovers!

Pictured: Kimchi jjigae with white rice, spicy shishito pepper and spicy raw oyster banchan.