Kimchi Jjigae

Ingredients

• 2 cups Kimchi, well-fermented, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 1 Yellow onion, sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean chile flakes)
• 1 tbsp Gochujang
• 4 cups Low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 block Extra-firm tofu, cut into thick slabs
• 1 ½ cups Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp Brown sugar
• 4 Scallions (green onions), cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 ½ cups Short-grain sushi rice

Method

1. Start the rice — jjigae without rice is a strange meal.
2. Fry the kimchi in the sesame oil over medium-high for 5 minutes with the onion, until the edges caramelize and the smell turns from sharp to sweet. Old, aggressively sour kimchi makes the best jjigae; fresh kimchi makes a thin one.
3. Add the garlic, gochugaru and gochujang and fry 1 minute more.
4. Pour in the broth along with any kimchi juice from the jar. Simmer 15 minutes uncovered.
5. Lay the tofu slabs and mushrooms on top, cover, and simmer 8 minutes without stirring so the tofu stays whole.
6. Add the sugar to round out the sourness, taste for salt, and scatter the scallions over. Serve bubbling, straight from the pot, with rice alongside.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Frying the kimchi before any liquid goes in is what turns it from sharp to deep. Do not skip the five minutes.

🧒 For the kids

Too sour and too hot for most children. Their portion is better as plain rice, tofu and a fried egg from the same kitchen.

🥡 Leftovers

Improves overnight. Keeps 4 days.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.