Budae-jjigae

A stew arranged in sections in a cold pan, with the broth poured over at the table so nothing is cooked down into anything else.

Pork, Fish, Tofu. Not vegetarian — contains a sausage whose meat the source does not name, cheese whose rennet the source does not name, fish, fish sauce, pork.

Ingredients

For the pot

• 300 g kimchi, as on its own page, chopped
• 200 g tinned luncheon meat, sliced
• 4 frankfurters, sliced on the diagonal
• 150 g minced pork
• 200 g firm tofu, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 100 g enoki or shiitake mushrooms
• 2 slices processed cheese
• 1 block instant noodles
• 4 spring onions, in 5 cm lengths

For the seasoning paste

• 2 tablespoons gochugaru
• 1 tablespoon gochujang
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

For the broth

• 900 ml anchovy and kelp stock, as on its own page

Method

1. EVERYTHING IS ARRANGED IN SECTIONS AND THE BROTH POURED AT THE TABLE. The pan is loaded cold -- kimchi here, luncheon meat there, sausages, tofu, mushrooms, each in its own wedge with the seasoning paste in the middle -- and only then does it go on the burner. Nothing is fried first and nothing is cooked down. That is the opposite of the kimchi jjigae on this site, where the kimchi is fried hard in fat before any liquid, and the reason is that here every ingredient is supposed to stay visibly itself.
2. SO IT IS COOKED AT THE TABLE, OR AT LEAST FINISHED THERE, on a portable burner. Half the dish is watching it come together and picking out of it; carried in already boiled, the sections have collapsed and it is a different and much duller pot.
3. THE NOODLES GO IN LAST AND ARE EATEN FIRST. Dropped in when the broth is already boiling and given three minutes. In from the start they go to mush and thicken everything.
4. THE CHEESE GOES ON TOP AT THE END and is not stirred in. It melts over the surface. Stirred through it disappears and makes the broth cloudy and claggy.
5. AND NO SALT IS ADDED. Luncheon meat, frankfurters, kimchi, gochujang and soy sauce are all salted, and the broth reduces as it sits over the burner. Taste at the table and add stock, not salt.
6. The seasoning paste ingredients stirred together in a small bowl.
7. A wide shallow pan loaded COLD: the kimchi, luncheon meat, frankfurters, pork, tofu, onion and mushrooms arranged in separate wedges, each touching the rim.
8. The seasoning paste spooned into the centre.
9. The stock poured gently down the side of the pan so the arrangement is not disturbed.
10. Brought to the boil at the table on a burner, or on the hob and then carried over the moment it boils.
11. Simmered 8 to 10 MINUTES without stirring, until the pork is cooked and the sections have softened but still sit apart.
12. The seasoning paste stirred into the broth now, gently, from the middle.
13. The instant noodles pushed into the centre and cooked 3 MINUTES.
14. The cheese slices laid on top and the spring onions scattered over.
15. Eaten straight from the pan as it keeps bubbling, with steamed rice as on its own page, and more stock added as it reduces.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes