I first got to learn about budae jjigae in one of the earlier episodes of ‘Running Man‘ – that was probably two years ago. The members had to team up to buy ingredients from the supermarkets and then whip up something delicious according to their allocated themes. Oh yes, if I did remember correctly too, that was the episode with some of the Girls’ Generation members on board as special guests too. Surprisingly, they could cook quite well. Oh well…
And so the members of the Running Man show introduced this dish as one that is often cooked in the army using leftover ingredients as well as whatever are brought along for a mission for outdoor cooking (hence the term ‘budae jjigae’, or ‘army stew’). Which is why ingredients like Spam meat, kimchi and frankfurters are commonly found in this particular type of Korean stew. In fact, this dish is very similar to the one that I cooked last year – ‘A Fermented Napa Cabbage Stew Called Kimchi Jjigae (김치 찌개)‘, which uses a similar stew base with gochujang. I have a stronger preference for this army stew though – it is a lot more fragrant, meaty and contain my favourite preserved Spam meat and hot dogs. Yum yum!
Ingredients:
- Dried mushroom: 3
- Dried kelp: 4 small pieces
- Dried anchovy: 10 pieces
- Dried shrimp: 2 tbsp
- White onion: 1/2, peeled, whole
- Water: 6 cups
- Spam meat: 1/2 can, sliced
- Pork belly: 120g, sliced thinly
- Kimchi: 1 cup, roughly chopped
- Silken tofu: 300g, sliced
- Rice cake (oblong): 1 cup, soaked in cold water for 30min
- Chicken frankfurter: 3, sliced diagonally
- Hot red pepper paste (gochujang): 3 tbsp
- Light soy sauce: 2 tbsp
- Rice wine: 1 tbsp
- Chilli powder (optional) : 2 tbsp
- Instant noodles: 1 pack
- Cheddar cheese slice: 1
- Red chilli: 2, chopped
- Spring onion: 1 stalk, chopped
Method:
- Add mushrooms, kelp, anchovies, shrimps & onion into water.
- Bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 min.
- Drain and keep the stock. Discard the remaining ingredients.
- Arrange spam meat, pork belly, kimchi (including sauce), tofu, rice cakes & frankfurters in a wok.
- Pour stock into wok. Bring to a boil.
- In a separate bowl, mix gochujang, soy sauce, rice wine and chilli powder with 1 cup of stock.
- Pour chilli paste mixture into wok. Leave to simmer for 5 min.
- Add noodles into the center of wok. Place cheese slice on top of noodles.
- Leave to cook for another 3 – 5 min.
- Garnish with chilli and spring onion to serve.
Trick:
- Make sure to add in lots of gochujang and kimchi sauce to create an appetisingly sweet, sour and spicy stew all at once. And don’t forget to top it all off with that tantalising piece of cheese slice!
Serving:
4 – 6 persons
