Soondubu Jigae, or soft tofu stew, is one of the most popular and recognizable spicy Korean stews.
Loaded with pork, kimchi, plenty of silken tofu, and finished off with an egg cracked on top, it’s a delicious meal that’s surprisingly easy to make at home. Once you’ve made the base stock, the whole dish comes together in one pot.
A Word on Cooking Vessels
As for your cooking equipment of choice, you can easily make soondubu in a small stockpot, or you can use a traditional Korean earthenware pot, AKA a ttukbaegi, which can be placed directly over the burner.
These can be bought at most Korean grocery stores (like H-Mart), but you can also find them online. We have the small single serving size, but this recipe makes two servings, or two small pots’ worth of soondubu.
An Adapted Recipe
This recipe is very lightly adapted from the online master of Korean food, Maangchi. The ingredients are mostly the same as what she calls for, but I’ve adjusted the process a bit.
I find that cooking in those little Korean earthenware pots can be a bit tight on real estate, which makes it difficult to mix in ingredients at various stages.
For more Korean dishes, check out our recipes for Kimchi Jigae, Kimchi Pancakes, and Easy Beef Bibimbap!
Soondubu Jigae: Recipe Instructions
First make the anchovy stock. Place the trimmed dried anchovies, daikon radish slices, dried kelp, and dried shiitake mushrooms in a medium pot with 5 cups of water.
Bring the water to a boil. Once the stock is boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, strain the stock. Save the mushrooms and slice thinly to put into your soondubu.
Now you’re ready to assemble the soondubu. Heat a small pot or your handy dandy earthenware Korean stew pot over medium-high heat. It takes a few minutes for the earthenware pot to get hot–don’t rush it, as there’s a chance it could crack if heated too quickly.
Add the oil to the pot, followed by the garlic and onions. (Note, if you’re cooking these two servings in two separate individual-serving pots, you’ll have to split all the ingredients down the middle for each.)
Stir fry until the onions are translucent. Turn the heat up to high, and add the pork belly. Let brown and caramelize.
Add the kimchi, sliced mushrooms and stir to combine.
Add about 1 1/3 cups of the anchovy stock (or 2/3 cup each for the individual pots), followed by the salt, sugar, Korean chili flakes (gochugaru), and sesame oil. Stir to combine.
Next, add the silken tofu, about a quarter of a standard block or half of a tube (if you are using a Korean brand that comes in cylindrical form). Break up the tofu lightly into large chunks. Bring the soondubu to a boil.
Crack an egg over the top of each pot, and cook for 1 minute.
Top with the scallions and serve with white rice and some additional kimchi on the side.
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Recipe
Soondubu Jigae (Korean Soft Tofu Stew)
Ingredients
- 10 large dried anchovies (heads and belly removed, this is easier than it sounds)
- ⅓ of a small daikon radish (5 ounces, peeled, washed, and sliced thinly)
- 1 piece dried kelp (6×4 inches)
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 5 cups water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (divided)
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 cup pork belly (or any other cut of pork, about 2-3 ounces per serving, cut into small pieces)
- 1 cup kimchi (roughly chopped, most of the jarred kinds are already cut)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4 tablespoons Korean chili flakes
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 package (silken tofu) (if you can find it, use a Korean brand, as it’s a denser, richer tofu!)
- 2 eggs
- 1 scallion (diced into small rounds)
Instructions
- First make the anchovy stock. Place the trimmed anchovies, radish slices, kelp, and shiitake mushrooms in a medium pot with 5 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil. Once the stock is boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, strain the stock. Save the mushrooms and slice thinly to put into your soondubu.
- Now you’re ready to assemble the soondubu. Heat a small pot or your handy dandy earthenware Korean stew pot over medium-high heat. It takes a few minutes for the earthenware pot to get hot–don’t rush it, as there’s a chance it could crack if heated too quickly.
- Add the oil to the pot, followed by the garlic and onions. (Note, if you’re cooking these two servings in two separate individual-serving pots, you’ll have to split all the ingredients down the middle for each.)
- Stir fry until the onions are translucent. Turn the heat up to high, and add the pork belly. Let brown and caramelize. Add the kimchi, sliced mushrooms and stir to combine.
- Add about 1 1/3 cups of the anchovy stock (or 2/3 cup each for the individual pots), followed by the salt, sugar, Korean chili flakes, and sesame oil. Stir to combine.
- Next, add the tofu, about a quarter of a standard block or half of a tube (if you are using a Korean brand that comes in cylindrical form). Break up the tofu lightly into large chunks. Bring the soondubu to a boil.
- Crack an egg over the top of each pot, and cook for 1 minute. Top with the scallions and serve with white rice and some additional kimchi on the side.
