Please tell me you made the kimchi, yes?
Oh, good, because this next recipe I’m sharing showcases kimchi.
But first, two things:
- If you haven’t yet jumped on the kimchi bandwagon, hitch up those skirts and jump.
- If you’re toying with making it, but unsure how to use it, or if you’ll even use it, this recipe’s got you covered. Even if you don’t like eating straight kimchi [clutches pearls and swoons], you should probably make it anyway — just so’s you can make this.
Alright. Now for the deets.
Kimchi jjigae is a stew (jjigae means “stew). Which, to the uninitiated, sounds plain wrong — take a bright vegetable ferment and then kill all that goodness? It makes no sense!
Until you do it. Then it makes perfect sense.
See, you gotta understand: kimchi is not just a fresh ferment condiment — it’s also a ready-made soup mix. A ready-made soup mix! Add kimchi to soup and, BAM, you’ve just exploded your humdrum soup with vegetables, umami, salt, and briny acidity.
The general idea: saute aromatics with Korean red pepper. Add the same ingredients again, but this time in the fermented form of kimchi. In other words, you’re layering flavors. It sounds stupid simple — and it is — but it’s also wondrously rich, satisfying, and comforting, aka, soul food with a twist, and I adore it.
Kimchi jigae can be served over rice, or thinned with more kimchi broth or water for a lighter soup. Cook it low and slow for silky-tender vibes, or give it a brief simmer for fresh crunch. Pair it with pork, or go rogue and toss in some cubes of fried paneer. Since learning to make it, I’ve cranked this out at least three or four times, both with and without meat, and never the same way twice.
There are a couple special Korean ingredients — and they are worth purchasing.
- Coarse gochugaru is Korean dried red pepper. It sparkles like sequins and fairy dust, and the heat is steady and punchy-deep (not hysterically sharp and piercing like cayenne). You can use a lot of it without making enemies.
- Gochugang is a paste, and it’s not authentic to kimchi jjigae, but I often add a hefty squirt anyway — because it’s delicious and I can.
- The green plum syrup (often called an “extract”) is optional, but I have been adding it to all sorts of things besides jjigae: seltzer water, sauteed kale, etc. It checks the boxes for both sweet and acid, so it comes in handy in all sorts of dishes, not just the Korean ones.
P.S. It’s slowly dawning on me that I may have a “Thing” for Korean food. I’ve never been particularly drawn to the flavors of Asian cuisine, but there’s something about the flavors and textures of Korean food that’s making my skirt fly up. Stay tuned.
Kimchi Jjigae
Adapted from Eric Kim’s recipe in NYT Cooking.
If you’ve got some kimchi that’s slightly bitter, jjigae is a fantastic way to use it up. In the jjigae, the flavors meld and deepen, and any trace of funkiness or bitterness completely disappears.
Eric makes his jjigae with pork ribs. I’ve made it with leftover pork chops. Also, ground beef (or was it leftover beef roast? can’t remember…). Also, no meat. It’s good any which-a way.
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil)
2-3 cups of well-fermented kimchi, rough-chopped and juices reserved
1 heaping tablespoon coarse-ground gochugaru
3 tablespoons gochugang paste, optional
2 cups water
pinch of salt
1 onion, sliced thinly into rings
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon green plum syrup (or extract)
3-5 green onions, sliced
Melt the butter and then add the ground gochugaru, garlic, and ginger. Saute for a minute, or until the butter is a pretty red. Add the gochugang paste, kimchi and its juices, 2 cups of water, and a pinch o’ salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the thinly sliced onion over top, cover with a lid, and then let it simmer another 10-15 minutes, or until the onions are cooked through and they’ve released all their oniony juices into the stew.
Stir in the fish sauce, plum syrup, and another couple pinches of ground gochugaru. Remove from the heat, shower with green onions, and serve over rice.
This same time, years previous: the quotidian (7.22.24), milk sabbatical, mamma mia, peach pie with bourbon and fresh rosemary, Italian meringue buttercream, the quotidian (7.23.18), lemony cream cheese frosting, all practicality, vegetarian groundnut stew.
