What's there to eat

It turned out... not too bad. 

I’ve been into Korean Food for a while now and I’ve dabbled with making some recipes in the past. Recently, re-watched a YouTube Video Eric Nam posted earlier this summer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9lcAyYjog). After watching it a second time, I thought I’d give Kimchi Jjigae a try for myself. 

Tofu Soup is one of my all-time favorite foods now and this was almost the same thing. I should make Tofu Soup sometime too. 

The video wasn’t super clear in terms of instruction since it was more of a vlog than an “official” cooking or recipe video. Because of this, I ended up just kinda of just following my instincts half the time and modified the ingredients as well for my personal taste.

Ingredients:

- Rice, Rice water (2.5 cups), Kimchi, Kimchi juice (from kimchi packaging; 3-5tbsp), Onion (1, chopped), Sugar (1tbsp), Minced garlic (1tbsp), soft tofu (cubed), sesame oil (1.5 tbsp), Pepper flake/powder (2-3 tbsp), Green onion (chopped), choice of protein. 

Notes: I used medium firm tofu but I believe a soft tofu would have been even better. I used pepper flakes, powder would probably be better. My protein choices were Pork Belly and beef brisket (thin sliced). 

First, I made some rice and saved 2.5 cups of the water I used to rinse the rice. Make as much rice as you’d like!

Before starting, I set up my mise en place. I set aside a cup of kimchi, the kimchi juice and chopped the onion. 

I started by sautéing my pork belly in some sesame oil. If you decide to use a protein that is not so thick such as beef brisket or tuna (Eric Nam), sauté the kimchi.

Once the protein started to change cook, I added the Kimchi and the kimchi juice and stirred. After a minute or so, I added the garlic, sugar and onion:

I stirred everything again until the onions began to change color. I then added the beef brisket and stirred until it began to change color. 

Note: Alternatively, you can add your protein when the broth is boiling. I will do this in the future. 

I added the 2.5 cups of the rice water from earlier and waited for it to start boiling. 

While waiting for the broth to boil, I cut the tofu into cubes.

Once the water was boiling, I added the tofu and the chopped green onions, this is also the perfect time to add in any protein you haven’t added yet:

After stirring for about a minute and letting the broth come to a boil again, I add pepper flake/powder.

 I then stirred again for 1-2 minutes and let it sit for 5 minus on med/low heat before serving. 

ALL DONE!

You’re all set to serve and enjoy! 

Additional Notes/Recap:

Overall, I’m happy with the way this turned out as it was my first time making it. Although I added what I thought seemed like a lot of chili, I personally found it to be a bit bland at first and added more chili flakes and about 3 tbsp of Gochujang that I had on hand. 

Next time I'll probably add some salt throughout the process and consider making changes to the broth by making a stock using anchovies and a few other items (I’ve already started doing research).

It won’t make a big difference, but next time I will also probably add the brisket at once the broth is boiling instead of adding it before the broth.