Today I am going to share the recipe of pork belly kimchi stew (Kimchi Jigae), a popular Korean comfort food. It’s a great cold weather recipe for sharing and very easy to make.
I am a big fan of Korean cuisine. My favorite Korean dishes are Kimchi Stew (Kimchi Jigae), Bibimbap, and Stir-fried Korean Glass Noodles (Japchae), to name a few. I make Korean food for my boyfriend and I at home at least once a week. Last Thursday, I made this kimchi stew and he loved it.
To make this dish, first I made a kelp and anchovy stock. As the base for this dish, it has a light and savory flavor (don’t worry, it won’t be very fishy). While waiting for the stock to be ready, I arranged pork belly, kimchi and tofu in a ceramic pot and top with some mined garlic and scallion.
After the kelp and anchovies has released their flavor to the water, I separated them out from the stock. And seasoned the stock with kimchi brine, hot pepper paste, sugar, salt and sesame oil before pouring it into the pot.
I suggest using a ceramic pot to make this dish. It takes slightly longer to heat in the beginning, but maintains the temperature inside the pot well and heats food evenly. The only thing I want to remind you when using a ceramic pot is always cook on low to medium heat, never cook with high heat.
After all the ingredients were in the pot, I transferred it to the stove top and let it simmer for about half an hour over low heat. Before serving, I garnished the dish with some freshly chopped scallion as a final touch.
The tender pork belly and sour taste from the kimchi and kimchi brine are our favorite parts of this dish. We managed to finish it (literally everything) in less than 15 minutes the other night. I will be making this dish for us again soon. And today I want to share the recipe with you guys.
I wish to visit Seoul one day (hopefully in the next two years) and tastes the delicious local foods there. I heard the street foods in Seoul are definitely worth trying. If you guys could recommend some places to go and signature foods to eat there, that will be awesome!
Here is an overview of how I made this tasty pork belly and kimchi stew.
I hope you enjoy making this tasty pork belly and kimchi stew at home. If you like this recipe, please leave a rating and share it with your friends!
- 1.5 cup kimchi, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup pork belly strips
- half a package firm tofu, cut into thick slices
- 1 stalk scallion, cut into long pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 stalk scallion, chopped for topping
- For stock:
- 6-8 large-sized dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- 6 2-inch squares dried kelp
- 2.5 cups water
- For seasoning:
- ¼ cup kimchi brine
- 1 tablespoon Korean hot pepper paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- Add dried anchovies and kelps in a medium saucepan, pour in the water, bring to boil over high heat and reduce to simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Discard the anchovies and kelps, set the stock aside.
- Season the stock with kimchi brine, hot pepper paste, salt, sugar and sesame oil, stir to mix well.
- In a medium ceramic pot, place in kimchi, pork belly and tofu slices on different sections of the pot and then top with minced garlic and scallion.
- Pour the seasoned stock into the pot and move it to the stove top.
- Turn to low heat, simmer for half an hour with lid on.
- Carefully remove the pot from the stove with oven mitts, sprinkle on top chopped scallions to serve.