Recipe

Kimchi Chigae Or Fermented Chili Pepper Cabbage Soup Recipe


Kimchi Chigae Or Fermented Chili Pepper Cabbage Soup Recipe
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The first time I had this delicious soup was about a month ago at a Korean restaurant called Seoul Garden in Maitland - see My Places and expand the pictures - great place! This Kimchi Chigae is loaded with flavor thanks to the pork belly and kimchi... More

Lunasea


Juel's version

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Ingredients
  • 16 oz pork belly*, sliced into 1/4" or a bit larger pieces (uncooked bacon can be used in a pinch, but if you can get pork belly - please use it. )
  • 2 tbsp. of oil
  • 4 tbsp kochujang (Korean chili paste)
  • 3-4 tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 cups kimchi (sometimes I add a little bit more because I adore kimchi)
  • 5 cups broth (use your favorite - I tend to use homemade chicken or veggie broth for this recipe)
  • 4 green onions, slice in a bias (save some for garnish)
  • 4 kochu (hot green chili), thinly sliced (save some for garnish)
  • 2 heaping tbsp kochukaru (Korean pepper powder)
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 pack dooboo (tofu) - I use the soft variety, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • ~~~~
  • Optional:
  • Sticky Rice (I like to serve this soup with it)
  • * At my Asian Supermarket, Woo Sung, this is in the frozen meat section and it is sliced in packages like thick cut bacon. Pork belly is not a smoked meat (like bacon) - and is really delicious. Like I said, you could use bacon - or I think Pancetta would work well here, too.

Directions
  1. Place a Dutch oven (or large soup pot) on the stove, set heat to medium high. When pan gets hot, add 2 tbsp. of oil to the hot pan and swirl around to cover cooking surface.
  2. Add pork belly (or bacon) and saute for about 8-10 minutes, until meat is fully cooked and starts getting a slight browned effect
  3. **NOTE: Despite the visible fat content in pork belly, it does not render much fat, so even with the added oil the pieces have a tendency to stick to the pan - so stir often
  4. Add chili paste and garlic and stir well into pork, scraping those delicious browned pork bits from the bottom of the pan; cook 1 additional minute over medium high heat, stirring once.
  5. Add kimchi, broth, green onions, green chiles, Korean chili paste, Korean pepper powder and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer for 30-35 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Place some tofu in each serving bowl and ladle soup over the tofu. Garnish with green onion and green chili slices.
  8. Serve with rice.

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Comments


Awesome recipe! Saved it!


Lucky for me we have Korean restaurants too. Thank you for bringing this Kimchi Chigae or Fermented Chili Pepper Cabbage Soup to me so I can make my it on my own. I love the heat and the fermented cabbage in your recipe.
High Five Vickie
Michael


Very Nice Vickie. The heat from the different types of chiles in this recipe should hit all corners of your mouth. I can't wait to try this.
Great Post....;-)~


Baby, you got it goin' on here! Hubba hubba! High 6 baby! Love You - Ray


Hey Vickie, this be some hot stuff but sounds so darn good!


We have a Korean restaurant by the same name in Raleigh, NC, and it's one of my favourites! My husband loves kimchi and makes his own. This soup is right up our alley!


Hi Vickie, I made your soup again! This time I took a picture and added it to the recipe. I used some fresh bok choy like I did last time. This is a great Korean soup!


Thank you, dear Julia - great picture! You rock, GF...


Oh, I have some kimchi in my frig that just begs to be made into this recipe. Just for me, tho, it would make Fred's head explode. Yummy. Thanks for the post.


As I'm Korean, to tell you the key about this recipe is well fermented kimchi, not fresh one.
as it is fermented, you have to deal with smell though. nothing good comes with no pain, right?
But don't be scared it's only the worst when you open the container cap. the finished dish is awesome, no bad smell.
Probably store would sell only fresh ones, then leave it at room temp. for 2~3days, but you need to take some out to prevent the mess from overflow. You can have the fresh kimchi as a side dish, it taste good too. The more aged, the sour it gets as well as the smell, but it doesn't go bed when you keep it in fridge after few days or a week. Which means you can make Kimchi Chigae many times over long time.
**The good chili paste brand is (Hea Chan Dule Sun Dried Chili Paste)
**If you don't like fat from pork, lean parts are ideal and you could use any kinds of ham as well. The size is not matter, but thin slice is better and the amount for 2~3people are about hand full.
This dish is goes very well with potatoes, zucchini, broccoli.
**Not to get too salty, the broth needs to be non salted or diluted with water and I don't think you need soy sauce in this recipe.
My last concern is chili paste. It seems too much because kimchi is already salty. You can try 2:2 same ratio with chili power or 3:3 and serve this dish with regular medium grain steamed rice.
Thank you Lunasea.
Enjoy~


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