Autumn Evening Recipes – kimchi jjigae

Autumn Evenings – kimchi jjigae

Kimchi Jjigae is a lovely Korean stew/soup centred around Kimchi and often pork. It’s rich and comforting but also fresh and lightly tangy from the kimchi. Just what you need on a cold and wet night, but flexible enough to sit on the schedule all year.

It's as easy as combining some cupboard staples, a little protein and some fresh vegetables and letting it sit on the stove or in the slow cooker. In Winter we love to sit it on the wood heater in an earthenware pot for a slow cooked version.

This recipe is sure to make you a delicious jjigae, but once you have gotten to grips with how it comes together feel free to add or subtract elements, its a flexible dish. We often change up the vegetables, adding carrots or more cabbage, or switch out the pork for a lighter version with silken tofu.

Same goes for the liquid choice. Our winter night favourite uses a beef stock paired with pork jowl* for a decadent rich jjigae, but warmer nights call for the delicate smokiness of an anchovy broth/Dashi with a leaner cut. If we feel like a lighter quicker meal, sometimes we'll pair tofu with water for a version that allows the brightness of the kimchi to shine.

It's flexible, it's easy and it belongs on your table with a bowl of rice and some pickles!

Ingredients:

300g Red Kimchi

2 tbsp Secret Weapon Soy

1 tbsp Hot Fermented Honey

1 Tbsp Gochujang (spicy bean paste)

1 medium Daikon Radish

4 cloves Garlic

1 bunch of Spring Onions

500g Pork** (Belly, Jowl or Shoulder)

500ml Stock, Dashi or Water.

How to:

1. Get all your ingredients out on a clear bench, collect a casserole or dutch oven style pot out.

2. Put your Kimchi, Gochujang, Soy, Honey and stock in the pot.

3. Slice your protein as evenly as possible. Into thin strips if a fattier cut, thicker if leaner. Add to the pot.

4. Slice your Daikon (or other chosen vegetables) into even pieces. Add to pot.

5. Slice garlic and add to the pot. If you want more potent garlic flavour try mincing it, less potent - slice it.

6. Place the pot on a Medium-low heat until meat is tender. Less time for leaner cuts, more for fattier cuts. Approx 50-90 minutes.

7. Put rice on to cook.

8. Slice half your Spring Onion into rough chunks and add for last 10 minutes. Slice the other half thinly for garnish.

9. Serve with Rice (udon style noodles are good too). If you want to boost the spice and flavour, why not add a little No.1 Chilli Crisp or Chiu Chow Chilli Sauce at the end?

*Ask your butcher about this delicious and largely forgotten cut. Pork Jowl is the cheek of the pig, offering a greater fat to meat ratio than belly with a meatier flavour. Because so few people order this cut it’s one of the last secret bargains in the butcher’s shop. If you're really game you can pickup a whole pig's head for only a few dollars, offering you a wealth of tasty cuts, tongue, ears and snout. Truly nose to tail.

** A great shortcut trick is to pickup packs of pre-sliced pork belly for Korean BBQ that you can keep in the freezer. Just put these in the pot straight from the freezer, they’ll thaw in no time.