An Experimental Kimchi Jjigae (김치 찌개)
Sam G.: The fridge stinks.
Diva: -sniffs- I don’t smell anything.
Sam G.: Well I’ve got a big nose so I’m pretty sensitive to smells.
Diva: -sniffs fridge again- Nothing stinky is hitting me yet.
Sam G.: It smells. Like really bad.
Bewildered, I sniffed the fridge about every hour, thinking that my morning sinus was probably fogging up the system and thus needed a little time before it cleared off. Lo and behold, I was the cause of this clinging stench lingering on the fridge shelves and what was the bringer of stink? Kimchi. Who would have guessed that this lovely-tasting Korean pickle could turn out to be a major stink bomb? The smell just kinda came and went when you peered into the fridge. You could only smell it if you really stuck your head in and moved it from top shelf down — something you’d normally do to check out what food you’ve got in the fridge. Blimey. It was pretty bad. I was in a pickle (don’t mind that pun, eh).
The only thing to do was either eat it straightaway or cook it and then seal it up in airtight lunchbox. I did the latter. I had stuffed my face with kimchi and tofu for lunch, I wasn’t going to do it again for dinner. It would be too sad. There wasn’t very much kimchi left anyway to bother repacking the damn thing in a lunchbox so I decided to turn it into a soup as my younger sister advised. She is the queen of Korean food. Actually, she is just a Korea-obsessed chick. It’s truly adorable and very handy when you’re craving something Korean.
This jjigae is rather experimental because instead of using a kimchi broth or adding gochujang, a Korean chili paste, I played around with Japanese kombu stock and added konnyaku to produce some sort of nabe hot pot / jjigae creation. It surely isn’t authentic and thinking back on the time I had real kimchi jjigae, the taste is very different and you can blame this on the difference in stock and lack of gochujang. However, the taste wasn’t bad at all and you can say it is a less spicy and milder version of the real McCoy. I’d make this again, this time without all my post-its stuck up everywhere declaring my love for all types of food and therefore, apologetic for bringing home Stinky (as I would now call my yummy Korean pickles). Gosh, let’s try to avoid that embarrassing situation in the future!
Experimental Kimchi Jjigae
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast, sliced into strips or chunks
1 tbs sake
a handful shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed and tops slit
2 bundles konnyaku
1 cup kimchi
2 cups water
1/2 to 1 packet tofu, sliced
2 spring onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped white onions
1 tbs vegetable oil
- For seasoning:
2 tbs kombu soup concentrate
1/2 tsp hot chili powder
1/2 tsp minced garlic
soy sauce, optional
In a large saucepan, heat some vegetable oil. Lightly sauté the minced garlic and white onions. Then add the kimchi and 2 cups water. Bring it to a boil, then add the sake, kombu concentrate, hot chili powder and half the spring onions. Give it a good stir before adding the chicken to cook. Leave this to cook and simmer about 10 minutes with the lid on.
Next, add the shiitake mushrooms. Give it a taste and add more chili powder if needed or a little soy sauce if needed. Then gently slide the tofu into the soup. Cover and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes on low heat. Remove lid after simmering, turn the heat up slightly. Add the konnyaku, give it a stir to let heat through.
Serve with the rest of the spring onions.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 am
In many Japanese restaurants these days you can get “jigae” as a nabe flavour along with miso and shoyu. Great way to use it up. Putting it in a sealed container doesn’t work. I think is is probably one of the reasons they have special kimchi fridges in Korea. Once you get used to it, it’s not too bad, except when it makes your butter/milk/cakes smell like kimchi…
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Looks like the experiment was a great success. This looks fantastic. I love the ingredients.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 am
This looks really interesting. Great experiments!
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Hey darling, this dish is looking fabulous as ever.. I am a fan of Kimchi, kimchi Nabe, The Shitake… goodness YUM, so glad you can find Konyaku where you are = )
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Ha ha:)) I think my reaction at my first encounter with kimchi was the same as Sam’s:)) But after I tried it, I changed my mind. It DOES have a specific aroma to it:) but it is also delicious. I love kimchi that is not very hot, but mild as my tongue is not used to super spicy food yet. I am working on it though:) I think you did great with your experiment, Diva girl.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:16 am
This sounds like a nice take on kimchi jjigae. I do not really find kimchi smells bad… but then again I don’t think that natto smells bad either.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Your experiment is brilliant as always. And here I am reading your blog at lunch time, as always. I never learn, as always!
February 7th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Is this any different from KOrean Soon Dubo ?
February 7th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
marc@NoRecipes: oh i didn’t know they had special fridges for these guys and it’s pretty cool that Japanese restaurants serve that too. Thanks for the info marc!
Bobby: thank you. I was glad it worked out fine. Was pretty nervous to start with. Stinking up the whole kitchen and lounge was stressing me out.
Dragon: cheers! I’m so glad this tasted good.
Girl Japan: I know, i wasn’t expecting to find konnyaku. But my mate and I went into Chinatown to celebrate the lunar new year and found it in one of the asian grocery shops. Amazing.
xx
February 7th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
farida: aroma?? I agree a little…as a pickle, it can get awfully strong. But in soups or fried rice, I think it smells gorgeous
Kevin: natto?? MMMM yummy. Good call kevin. Some find it sticky and weird but I quite fancy it now.
Ann: it’s bad isn’t it? I always foodblog surf just before lunch so when it’s lunch I’m ravenous and stuffing way too much food into my mouth. Bad bad bad….
tigerfish: hey darling, to be honest, I’m not very familiar with Korean cuisine. I only know kimchi, the sidedishes, bibimbap and kimpbap HAHAHA. So i actually wouldn’t know..Sorry hun.
xx
February 11th, 2009 at 9:59 am
thats interesting…
koreans traditionally eat kimchi with pork. ive never seen it with chicken!
cool twist.
February 11th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
bonnevivante: you’re quite right. most recipes will use pork with this or beef, sometimes even some sort of fish. However, pork and beef is quite a luxury ingredient in Korea. Since we’re going through bad times here – what with the credit crunch – i haven’t stocked up on red meat. And I don’t eat much red meat, or meat really, either. Using chicken gives the stock less flavour than if I’d used pork but I can safely say adding more chili totally works for the better!
xx
September 8th, 2009 at 2:42 am
LOL i am dying of laughter as I read this because I did the same thing to one of my Korean friends one day before I understood what Korean food was. I was young naive and only knew of Vietnamese food and hamburgers. This friend of mine, his whole house smelled liked kimchi, I walked in and the aroma hit mr like a 1000 ton whale to the face. Now I just simply love it, thanks for the recipe!
CHeers