Kimchi Chigae

I love Kimchi Chigae and would take every opportunity to make some whenever I have kimchi around. Since my I made kimchi in my previous post, it’s only natural to post a recipe in homage to the almighty kimchi! And there is nothing better than Kimchi Chigae to showcase the spicy umami flavors of this native Korean delicacy.

Kimchi Chigae is basically a stew made from kimchi and you can add anything you want in it. My kimchi is the vegetarian kind with soy beans, tofu, daikon radishes, rehydrated shitake mushrooms, carrots and a zucchini for good measure 😛 But normally, Koreans would add cubes of pork belly, beef, and seafood for protein – with cube pork belly as a preference.

So here’s how I started my Kimchi Chigae and after step 1 you can proceed to add whatever you want as your protein and vegetables.

Kimchi Chigae (serves 4 or two very greedy people)
1/4 head of kimchi cabbage, chopped up into pieces
1/4 cup of kimchi juice
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
5 square pieces of wakame seaweed
1 cup of daikon cubed
1 tablespoon Korean chili powder (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon soy sauce
6 cups of water (you can also use chicken broth)

I used:
8 slices of pan fried tofu, tied in twos with steamed green onions
1 medium sized carrot, cut into fingerlings
1/2 cup of fresh soy beans (basically edamame peeled)
1 small zucchini, diced
1/2 cup of rehydrated shitake mushrooms (soaked in cold water overnight)

1/2 teaspoon of roasted sesame oil

Method:
Kimchi Chigae goes very well with rice so before you proceed, cook some rice to go with it first.

1. In a large lidded pan, put the chopped kimchi as the first layer on it’s base and then pour the kimchi juice around the pan. Put in the seaweed slices, daikon cubes, onions, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and sprinkle the Korean chili powder around before pouring in 6 cups of water/broth in. Let it come to a simmer.

2. Once it starts to simmer, you can add your sesame oil in the pan and the rest of the ingredients. If you’re using meat or seafood, now is the time to put it in. Put the lid on and let it cook for 10-15 minutes under medium heat.

3. Sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds over the top and serve with a bowl of hot rice.