Korean Soft Tofu Stew (Sundubu Jjigae)

Sundubu jjigae is a classic, comforting Korean stew made with kimchi, pork belly and silken tofu. It’s salty, sweet, spicy… all in one warm bowl!

 

Korean Spicy Soft Tofu Stew

When I first heard about Korean soft tofu stew, I’ll admit – the name didn’t really sound appealing.

Tofu.. and soft tofu at that?

But then I tried it and I was blown away! Sundubu jjigae is a warm savory bowl of soup, with chunks of silky soft tofu and a hint of smokiness. It’s usually served in a small individual-portioned bowl and tastes like a warm bowl of comfort.

In fact, this dish is so good there’s a popular restaurant in Ktown that specializes just in sundubu (BCD tofu house if you’re in NYC). It was basically a ritual throughout my 20s to end a night out with Korean food and my friends and I always ordered sundubu jjigae and kimchi pajeon.

The contrast between deep fried crispy pancake and hot savory stew always hit the spot… and helps prevent hangovers :)

My weekends look a little different these days, but the craving for Korean tofu stew has never gone away.

Here’s an easy recipe to make sundubu jjigae at home.

 

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Sundubu Jjigae Recipe Video

 

 

How to Make Soondubu Jjigae

 

Kimchi, Pork Belly or Seafood

Sundubu means soft tofu in Korean, while jjigae means stew.

The classic version of the soup contains pork belly, but you can also make it vegetarian by just having kimchi (kimchi jjigae). Another popular version is haemul sundubu jjigae, with an assortment of seafood like shrimp, little clams and mussels.

Any Korean restaurant will usually offer multiple varieties of soondubu!

 

 

Where to Find Kimchi and Pork Belly

Sometimes Asian ingredients can be hard to find, but the best place to get everything you need is at H-mart. It’s a Korean grocery store so they carry lots of Korean brands and specific cuts of meat that are perfect for Asian and Korean dishes.

I usually get Jonnga kimchi. 

It comes in a medium or large sized bag. There are lots of different types of kimchi, from whole un-cut cabbage to diced radish cubes as well as yeolmu kimchi (which uses young summer radishes and has more chive-y greens).

 

 

 

Tip: add your kimchi to a small bowl using chopsticks or tongs. Use kitchen shears to cut the kimchi into slices. This way, you won’t stain your hands or a cutting board.

Whatever you do, don’t buy the Mother In Law kimchi jars you see at Whole Foods. That stuff is flavorless, overpriced and downright awful!

Pork belly is basically bacon, but at Asian grocery stores it’s butchered a little differently into very thin strips.

 

 

Ttukbaegi

The classic way to make sundubu is in a Korean earthenware pot called ttukbaegi. It’s a small, heavy black bowl that takes a while to heat up, but retains heat well.

The pots are small and individual sized, so if you’re making sundubu jjigae for a group it’s nice to have multiple pots. The bowls go straight from the stove to the table and keep the stew nice and bubbly.

 

 

 

 

Making the Broth

With any soup, the flavor really comes down to the broth.

I use these anchovy kelp packets as a quick and easy way to make flavorful broth. The packets are individual mesh pouches filled with various ingredients like dried seaweed, anchovies, radish or shiitake mushrooms.

 

 

 

To make the stock, add the packet to a small pot of water and bring to a boil. Then let everything simmer for ~20 minutes and you’ll be left with a rich golden liquid packed with umami.

You can also buy the ingredients separately, but I find that buying the packets saves time.

 

 

Gochugaru

Korean red pepper flakes, or gochugaru, are what give this stew its distinctive red color and spiciness. 

If you don’t like spicy food, you can always adjust the amount of gochugaru. But in general, gochugaru isn’t really all that spicy – it’s more of a savory paste with just a bit of kick.

You can find Korean red pepper flakes at Korean grocery stores or buy it online here.

 

 

Soft vs Firm Tofu

There are many different types of tofu but this dish is specifically designed around silken tofu. 

Look for the tubes of Korean soft tofu. They slowly break apart into chunks and add a silky, soft texture to the soup.

 

 

Soondubu Paste

If you like sundubu jjigae and want to have the dish often, a great hack to save time is to make soondubu paste.

Essentially you create a thick paste of all the ingredients and freeze it in individual portions. That way, you don’t have to make the stock and all the different components from scratch every time. 

 

 

Sundubu Paste Ingredients

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 spring onion (white portion only), diced
• ¼ cup pork, minced
• ½ cup onion, diced
• ½ cup gochugaru
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• ½ tbsp sesame oil

 

 

Make sundubu paste:

1. Heat a pan on high heat and sauté garlic and white spring onion until golden brown.
2. Add in your diced onions and cook until translucent.
3. Add in your minced pork and cook until all the moisture has evaporated.
4. Add in the Korean red pepper flakes and reduce heat to low. Season with salt, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil.
5. Once everything is mixed, turn off the heat and let the paste cool.
6. Place the block of paste into a freezer bag and store. It will keep for 1 to 2 months.

I find it handy to spoon out the paste into ice cube trays and then freeze, so that they’re in individual blocks, approximately 2 tablespoons each.

To use, just add ½ cup of water for every 2 tablespoons of paste. Bring it to a boil and add your tofu. Garnish with spring onion, add an egg and eat with rice.

And voila! Sundubu in record time.

 

 

 

 

Sundubu Jjigae Recipe

 

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