I don’t remember when this obsession with korean food began. I certainly never had it until I came to NYU, and even then I lived off my meal plan freshman year and ramen/spaghetti my sophomore year. Somehow kimchi and bulgogi and I just clicked instantly though when we met, and the rest is history…
Budae Jjigae (“army stew”) is one of my favorite korean dishes ever, perfect on a cold winter’s day. Of course, the first time I made it happened to be on a hot summer’s evening, so the stew left my two friends and I dripping with beads of sweat as we ate the piping hot stew. It is extremely easy to make and often leaves you with leftovers for the next day. It gets quite spicy though with the chili paste, so I highly recommend eating the stew over rice to neutralize some of the spiciness.
Ingredients:
SPAM? VIENNA SAUSAGES? That might sound weird in korean food, but actually this stew was popular after the Korean War when meat was scarce in Seoul and people used surplus foods from the U.S. Army bases. Hence the canned meats.
I would actually substitute hot dogs for the vienna sausages in the future. We used vienna sausages the first time but they were a little too soft for my taste. No springiness when you bite down =(. The amount of ingredients listed is just a guideline. The beauty of this dish is that you can always adjust according to personal preference and it will still be delicious.
I’ve also made another variation of this where I added in squid, shrimp, and mussels. YUM seafood!
1) Sautee the diced onions and minced garlic in a pan for about a minute.
2) Slice up the spam, vienna sausage, and tofu into slightly-larger-than bite size pieces.
3) Add enough water to a big pot to cover all the ingredients listed above. You can always adjust the water level later. Bring to a boil.
4) Add the onion and garlic to the pot. Add some gochujang and one of the Shin Ramyun spice packets to the boiling water according to your spice tolerance. Stir.
5) Add the spam, sausages, tofu, and dduk. Simmer for 8 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6) Add the kimchi and enoki mushrooms. Simmer for another 7 minutes. Stir occasionally.
7) Add the green onions, eggs, and ramen. Simmer for 4 more minutes, continuing to stir.
8) Your army stew is now done! Remove from heat and serve over white rice. Make sure to get a little bit of everything when ladling the stew into your bowl.
When you get this dish at Korean restaurants, they usually bring it out on a portable stove and the stew bubbles happily in front of you as you eat.
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One of my favorites! My husband is in love with this soup and he always asks for it. I have to say no most of the time because of the high calories but when I make it, he goes crazy over it. :) So yummy!
Very interesting your cooking!!
Mmm, I love (what) Korean food (I’ve had so far)! It was interesting that you provided a bit of history, too. Will definitely be making this in the future.
Thanks for posting!
~Kurious Kitteh
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very interesting…
So…yummy
I want to cooking…!!!