Hot, spicy, flavorful stew in under 20 minutes. For when you want the comfort of a good jjigae but you don’t want to take a trip to the store.
This is my non-traditional take on tofu jjigae based on what I usually have around; I use whatever type of stock I have/can make in under 10 minutes, I sometimes don’t use soft tofu since I typically have medium-firm, I always keep frozen pork belly in my freezer, I always have dried/fresh mushrooms on hand, and I use the same type of seasoning/sauces for many dishes I make. Soondubu jjigae, aka soft tofu stew, traditionally requires an anchovy-kelp stock as a base. I don’t really keep dried anchovies around and these days I’m pretty impatient to make my own stock. All hail instant dashi powder.
If you need a traditional recipe there are many out there but if you’re lazy like me, give this a try. Imo my method still makes me want to sing praises to myself but I’m pretty biased so. You’ll notice that many of the ingredients are optional, because I only use what I have on hand. The only things I’d say you really need to make this without it turning into something completely different is the tofu, kimchi, and stock.
Also, I use my own homemade kimchi on this so I always have it in my fridge, which is why this is kind of my go-to comfort food. But yeah keep some kimchi in your fridge alwaaaaaaays.
Let’s get to it!
Lazy Soondubu Jjigae
Ingredients
- A few slices* pork belly (as much as you want), optional
- 1/2 small onion diced, optional
- 20~40 g well-fermented kimchi ~1/4 cup, depending on how much you want, chopped
- 1 tbsp neutral-flavored oil
- 1 tsp hon dashi or any instant dashi powder*
- 520 ml water bit more than 2 cups
- 4~6 fresh/dried shiitake mushrooms*** or enoki if you have it, stems removed
- 200 g tofu (soft or medium firm) 1/2 a container or 1 of those cylindrical soon tofu tubes
- 1 bunch your choice of veggies ex: mizuna, spinach, zucchini, optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1~2 tbsp fish sauce to taste
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp granulated chicken bouillon optional
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 egg optional
- 1 stalk green onion chopped, optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pot on medium heat. Add the pork belly and let sear for a bit, stirring occasionally. Then add the onion and kimchi, stir for 2~3 min.
- Add water to the pot and then turn to high heat, then add the hon dashi. Stir it in so it's mixed well, bring to a boil then turn the heat down to medium high. Add the mushrooms.
- Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, salt, white pepper, chicken bouillon. Taste it and see if you want to adjust, if it's very salty you could add a bit of sugar to balance it out.
- Cut the tofu (into blocks or rounds depending on the packaging, if you're using very soft tofu be careful when transferring to pot or you can just break it up and scramble, it's your life!) Let simmer for 5~10 minutes. If you want to you can turn the heat down to medium low and put the lid on.
- Mix in your veggies and taste again to see if you need to adjust anything. If your kimchi is not very spicy you can add some gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes).If you're using the egg, crack it into the center and let it simmer for 1 minute. Then kill the heat and sprinkle the green onions on top. Drizzle the sesame oil on top.
- Enjoy! Serve with rice or whatever you prefer :)
