Pronounced "
Budae jjigae", this Korean hot pot literally means "army base stew", thanks to the U.S. troops residing in South Korea ever since the Korean war. Why the army? U.S. war-fighters introduced making use of their favorite foods, such as hot dogs and spam, in the traditional Korean stews, making the soup thick and heavy, suiting their taste buds.
So, why is this recipe on this website if it has spam? Isn't spam meat?!? That's right! Spam is a brand of heavily processed meats that are full of cholesterol and bad fats (and probably
some of these, too, if you're not lucky). But guess what, spam or hot dogs are actually not needed at all in this hearty stew - the soup becomes healthy and yet flavorful, making it an ideal hot pot item for all.
Serves 5~6
Ingredients:
- Kimchi, a little bit, chopped
- Vegetarian ham, 100g (optional)
- Vegetarian ramen or noodles, 1 block
- 1/4~1 block of silken (soft) tofu
- 2~3 green onions, chopped
- 1 serrano green pepper or jalapeno
- 1 red pepper (jalapeno)
- Rice cake, 50g (optional)
- Chrysanthemum greens, 3 stalks:
You can get these from Chinese or Korean markets
- 3 king oyster mushrooms, chopped
- 3 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- Vegetable broth, 3 cups (seaweed broth)
- Soup base paste:
Combine 2 TB hot red pepper powder, 1 TB hot red pepper paste, 1 TB soy sauce, 1 TB sugar, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1/2 TB minced green onion, 1 TB Mirim (also known as mirin, a yellowish looking rice cooking wine), black pepper & sesame seeds for taste
Instructions:
1. First, prepare the vegetable broth. This can be prepared by boiling water, then put dried shiitake mushrooms and dried seaweed (da-shi-ma) in the boiling water until the broth becomes fragrant.
2. Chop kimchi, each 5 cm short.
3. Cut vegetarian hams about 5x2x0.5 cm.
4. Chop everything else.
5. Make the soup base paste by combining the ingredients stated above.
6. Put everything and the broth into the pot. You may want to put salt to your taste.
7. Boil everything until cooked, then put ramen, tofu, and rice cake if you have them. Bring it to boil again.
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