Kimchi Jjigae - Version 2.0 - (김치 찌개)

Total Cooking Time: 1 hour

I didn't really want to think of dinner last night, so I resorted to kimchi jjigae again. This time I made it with pork galbi and thought I would post it up. Next time I'm going to make it with canned mackerel. =P



In a separate pot, place your pork galbi (pork ribs basically) into just enough water to cover it and add 1 TB of soy bean paste. Bring this to a boil and let it boil for about 20 minutes.



Meanwhile, prepare your jjigae. Add 1 TB sesame oil and 1 TB minced garlic to your pot.



Throw in some chopped onions and 1 TB of red pepper paste.



Put in some kimchi (about 2 cups) and add about 6 TB of kimchi juice. Stir-fry this for about 5 minutes or so and then add about 3 cups of water.



Bring the jjigae to a boil.



Clean your pork under cold water.....



Add it to the jjigae and let it boil for about 30 minutes. If you boil it long enough, the meat will tenderize and will fall right off the bones when you're eating it.



You can add some jalapenos and sliced garlic (I happened to have some leftover in the fridge).


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Some mushrooms and tofu...



And then finish it off with some green onions. All done!



I also made the leftover boolgogi meat I had in the fridge. I pan-fried it with some of the cabbage, onions, and green onions that I had already chopped up for the pancit.

Kimchi Jjigae - (김치 찌개)

My husband is quite pleased that I decided to start a food blog because it gives me more incentive to cook. =) The constant question of, "What should I make for dinner tonight?" is quite annoying for me. On the days that I don't want to think about dinner I end up resorting to kimchi jjigae. I'm sure everyone has their own version of kimchi jjigae but I thought I would share my version anyhow.



If I'm feeling particularly lazy, I'll just make it with kimchi, sesame oil, garlic, and water. It still tastes just as good, but today I had some vegetables and tofu (which expires today) to get rid of so I used them as well.



First I heat a dol sot (a pot made of stone) with about 1 tb of sesame oil and then I throw in 3/4 tb of minced garlic.



I cut sam gyup sal (pork bacon?) into small pieces and stir away until the pink is almost all gone.



Then I add some onions.



If your kimchi is really well fermented you don't really need to add gochujang (red pepper paste), but the kimchi I had isn't as fermented as it should be so I added about 3/4 tb of gochujang to make the soup thicker.



Mix around until everything is well coated and done.



Add some kimchi and I also add about 5-6 tb of kimchi gookmool (the juices from the kimchi). I often buy the Cosmos brand from the store.



Add just enough water to cover everything and then add the tofu and mushrooms.



I cook my kimchi jjigae for at least 45 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. If you feel that you're running out of water, just add a little more and keep cooking! I finished it off with some green onions and some slices of gochu (Korean peppers).

Gamja Tang - (감자탕)

So I finally made gamja tang today using the recipe I found a few days ago. The HK Market didn't have the pork backbone (I wonder why?) so I went to Ranch 99 and the butcher was nice enough to cut them into 2 inch pieces for me.

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL RECIPE I FOLLOWED.

Although the recipe was a good outline for me to follow, I thought it could stand to use a little tweaking. Hubby really enjoyed it tonight, but I wasn't too happy with it...I will explain below.


I bought 6 lbs. of bones today and quickly realized after sticking them into my pot that it was WAY too much. I put half into the freezer, so I ended up using about 3 lbs. First, get a big pot of water and drain all the blood for a couple of hours. I changed the water every 30 minutes or so to keep it fresh and gave all the bones a nice scrub down. After the blood is all drained, bring the bones to a boil with a little less than half a tablespoon of dwenjang and coffee. I'm assuming this is done to get the pork smell out of the meat. It worked~



While the meat was boiling, I readied all the vegetables & fruit. 2 large onions, about 10 whole garlic cloves, some chili peppers (I just bought serrano peppers), a big piece of ginger, and 8 green onions (mostly the white part). Although there's an apple in the picture just ignore it. I added the apples and it ended up being too sweet. I had 2nd thoughts about the apple when I originally looked at the recipe and I should have gone with my gut instinct. There was a distinct sweetness to the gamja tang that I did NOT like. Next time I will omit the apple for sure.



While the meat is boiling, get the sauce ready too.

This is what the original recipe called for - in parentheses is what I did.
3 tbs. shrimp jut (I added about 4 tbs.)
3 tbs. dwenjang
3 tbs. gochujang
(I added about 5-6 tbs. of gochugaru since I like everything spicy)
3 tbs. soju (or rice wine)
Generous amount of sesame seeds and black pepper



After your vegetables and sauce are ready, the meat should have boiled for a good amount of time. Run it under cold water and give it a nice cleansing. I also washed out the pot at this point and filled it up with new water.




Then I realized my pot was too small, so I switched over to my huge gom gook pot (BIG MISTAKE!) I think I ended up using way too much water. I had to boil this for 5 hours to reduce all the water~ sheesh.



Anyhow, once the water starts boiling...add the sauce ingredients.



Like I said before, I let it boil for over 5 hours and the liquid was reduced to about half of what i started with.



I drained the liquid through a strainer and placed all the other stuff back into the pot.



I then divided the liquid in half and carefully picked out only the meat and bones and placed it into yet another pot.



This was all the gunk leftover at the bottom of Pot A.



I added some of this. I forgot what it called....sook joo? sook gat? Anyone?



Of course you can't forget the most important potatoes! I threw in some potatoes, fresh green onions, and added the green stuff on top. Add some sesame seeds and perilla seeds and you're done. I actually found the recipe to be a bit bland, so even though the recipe said not to use salt...I added a little salt and gook ganjang. I suppose it turned out okay for a first try, but I will definitely omit the apples next time. It had this irritating sweetness that shouldn't be present in gamja tang.

Even so, hubby liked it....and he's picky when it comes to food~

I have half left over and I placed it into the fridge for tomorrow. The recipe states that you should put it into the fridge overnight so the meat gets fully marinaded by the gookmool. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I won't have to add salt...