Kimchi Jjigae
The best possible use for kimchi that has gone too sour to eat raw: simmered with pork belly and tofu into a bubbling, deeply savoury stew. Twenty-five minutes.
Photograph credit: Beef, tofu and kimchi stew of Matsuya by 毒島みるく · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Well-fermented kimchi has developed lactic acid and complex flavour compounds that make a far better stew than fresh kimchi, which tastes flat when cooked. Frying the kimchi in pork fat before adding liquid caramelises its sugars and blooms the chilli, deepening the whole pot.
Photograph credit: Kimchi jjigae - Kogi, Brighton 2023-11-15 by Andy Li · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Method for Kimchi Jjigae
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Heat the oil in a heavy pot and fry the pork belly over medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes until browned and its fat has rendered.
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Add the onion and garlic and cook 3 minutes.
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Add the chopped kimchi and fry for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and smells sweet and toasty. This step is what makes the stew taste deep rather than sharp.
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Stir in the gochugaru, gochujang, doenjang and sugar and cook 1 minute.
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Pour in the stock and the reserved kimchi juice and bring to a boil.
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Reduce to a steady simmer and cook, partly covered, for 15 minutes.
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Lay the tofu slices on top and simmer 5 minutes more without stirring, so they stay intact.
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Scatter with spring onions, drizzle with sesame oil, and serve bubbling with rice.
Related guide: Choosing rice.
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Worth Getting Right
- Old, sour kimchi is what you want. Fresh kimchi makes a noticeably duller stew.
- Do not skip frying the kimchi. Five minutes here is worth twenty of simmering.
- A raw egg cracked into the bubbling stew at the table is a common and excellent addition.
Common Substitutions & Variations
- Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Pairs Well With
Soju, traditionally · Serve with steamed rice and a few banchan · Finish with fresh fruit
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Sigeumchi Namul, Gamja Jorim, Oi Muchim.
Keeping and Reheating
Refrigerate 4 days; it improves overnight. Freezes 2 months, though the tofu texture suffers.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted; a cooked weight is worked out with raw figures, so those lines run high. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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