pork belly kimchi jjigae/stew (김치찌개)
Photo from Google
What is one dish you can always find in a Korean home? Kimchi! For those who don’t know what kimchi is, kimchi is a spicy salted fermented vegetable, usually cabbage, that is known as the national dish in Korea. It is full of flavor and has so many beneficial nutrients I’m so excited to share my recipe for the pork belly kimchi jjiggae!
It’s not a surprise this is my first recipe in my blog because this is literally my favorite food. If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it’s rice with kimchi jjiggae, not gonna lie. I use pork belly or any kind of pork that I have in my house for this stew. The reason why I use pork is because pork contains enough fat to stir fry the kimchi and gives it that delicious deep meaty flavor that enhances the whole dish. So here is my easy peasy classic kimchi jjiggae recipe that can be made in just ONE POT!
(**For the sake of the blog I thought about taking photos of the food in a way that is aesthetically-pleasing and pretty. However, I want to put my focus on authenticity of the homemade Korean food rather than presentation. Thank you for understanding!**)
Ingredients:
Serving size: 2-3
- Pork belly (삼겹살) - 6 slices (0.5lb)
- Kimchi (older (aged) kimchi is better)- 1 cup of bite size cut kimchi and 1/3 kimchi juice
- Jalapeño - 1/2 to 1 sliced thinly (optional)
- Firm tofu - 150g cut into 1.5cm thickness squares
- 1.5 cup of water
- Salted shrimp (새우젓) - 1 tsp. You can get this at your local korean market (Zion, H-mart). If you can’t get this, you can just use salt but I highly recommend you get this!
- Korean red chili powder (고추가루) - 1 tbs
- Green onion - 1 stalk
Let’s get started!
1. Heat up the pot on the stove - medium heat
2. Lay out your pork belly and cook it half way. Sometimes the pork is not as fatty so you might need to add 1 TBS of vegetable oil.
3. Put the kimchi into the pot and lightly “stir-fry.” Doing so will soften the fresh kimchi and let it get mixed in with the pork oil.
4. Pour the kimchi juice into the pot and mix everything - the pork, kimchi, and the juice - around.
5. Close the lid for 2 min and let the kimchi get cooked and softened with the oil from the pork belly.
6. Put the chopped tofu and jalapeno and close the lid for 3 min until the kimchi juice is soaked into the tofu.
7. Pour water and mix carefully to not break the tofu and bring the pot to boil in high heat then reduce the heat to medium once it starts boiling.
8. Put in salted shrimp (새우젓) and Korean red chili powder. If you don’t have the salted shrimp you can skip that part but that is what makes this kimchi jjigae recipe saltier without adding actual salt! Close the lid again.
9. Open the pot and see how everything looks and taste the soup to see if it’s seasoned well. If not, you can add a little bit of salt or the kimchi juice. Let it boil for 5 more minutes with the lid closed and once everything looks good, add the green onion and turn the heat off.
10. Now get your bowl of rice and enjoy!
Leave me a comment and let me know if you tried this recipe or will be trying this recipe in the future!
Xx, Amie