These days it’s hot summertime, but you still need to cook! Even on the hottest days you can always get some energy from your own homemade food.
Today’s recipe is another simple and easy recipe, spicy pork stew or dwaejigogi-jjigae in Korean, a spicy, savory, juicy stew made with pork belly. Usually when I cook with pork I add kimchi, but this one doesn’t have any kimchi at all. However it’s still pretty spicy! And even though it’s made with pork belly, it’s not greasy at all. For me, the taste is very refreshing!
Ingredients
Serves 4
For the seasoning paste:
- 7 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon peeled ginger, minced
- ¼ cup hot pepper paste (gochujang)
- 1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the stew:
- 1 pound pork belly (or pork shoulder, or some tender cuts of beef or chicken), cut into ¼ inch thick bite size pieces
- 8 ounces peeled onion, cut into chunks
- 1 medium size peeled potato (4 ounces), cut into chunks
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1 green chili pepper, sliced
- ½ package of tofu (about 8 ounces), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
- Combine the garlic, ginger, hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes, toasted sesame oil, and ground black pepper in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- Add onion, potato, and pork to a medium-sized pot. Mix in the seasoning paste by hand (you can wear disposable kitchen gloves if you want). Let it sit for 10 to 30 minutes.
- Add the water, fish sauce, and salt. Stir well with a spoon and cover. Cook for 25 minutes over medium hight heat, until the pork is fully cooked and the broth is tasty.
- Stir the stew with a spoon a few times and add tofu, green onion, and green chili pepper. Cover and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Serve:
Ladle some to individual bowls and serve with rice.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! I served it with rice and roasted seaweed and my family loved it. This is a super easy and delicious dish that I will make again for sure. Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes.
Just finished late night cooking! Wonders of 30 min marinating time in a pot. And ginger. Wow!! Thank you, Maangchi :D
See full size image
It looks mouthwatering! All you need is a bowl of rice! Maybe 2 bowls? : )
Hi Maangchi, I just love following your recipes. It’s easy to follow and the outcome is so good. Makes me want to cook everything on your website. Hahaha!!!
See full size image
It looks so delicious!
I made this today and it turned out great. I added a little rice wine vinegar for acidity, some carrots. I left out the tofu because I didn’t have that already and I used fatty chunks of pork loin because that’s what I had on hand. Very delicious.
See full size image
can you use beer instead of pork? There doesnt seem to ne a lot of stews/soups with beef.
Beef
Yes, you can use beef, too.
Hi Maangchi,
I made the recipe yesterday but it didn’t work so well (it was Brown soup and very (too) spicy but not much flavor. I used sambal instead of pepper paste because it wasn’t available here. Same goes for pork belly and the Korean flakes. I used regular ground chili flakes and pork chops. Was that the problem?
Hi Frank, try visiting an Amazing Oriental (web)shop, hot pepper paste (gochujang) is very different from sambal. Even considering the versatility of sambals we have on offer in the Netherlands, nothing comes close to the fermented peppers. Also, look for the Korean pepperflakes as they are not as spicy as the pepperflakes we get in Holland. I buy nearly a kilogram a year and still find myself running low in month 10 :)
Good luck!
I made this stew for my wife, her mom and her sister.
I knocked down the spice a tad by leaving out the green chilies and they loved it.
I plan on experimenting with some more of your recipes.
Thank you
Jim
Hi Maangchi,
Your recipe inspired me want to cook it so much for my family this week, and so I did!
Admittedly, I didn’t follow your recipe exactly, but the stew was still wonderful and the outcome is the same–MY FAMILY LOVED THE DISH!
I documented my recipe and give thanks and appreciation to yours in my simple family recipe blog, which I keep primarily for my 5 daughters so that they can cook to feed themselves as well as their families in future. (https://recipesoftheumarfamily.blogspot.com/)
Thank you and my kids and I love your videos!
See full size image
This looks fantastic! This will be the next soup I make, for sure.
Hi Maangchi! This looks amazing & I just bought a pound of pork belly at my local Korean store. It’s named Seoul Foods in Fridley, Minnesota. I bought your cookbook when you first released it & I proudly display it in my kitchen. This past Saturday I made Kmchi Pancake – so awesome! I’ve made many of your recipes! I love your videos, so are so cute!
I have one question on the Spicy Pork Stew; what firmness of Tofu did you use?
PS – I wish I could chop like you did! Very impressive! Keep up sending us new recipes & videos! Laurie
Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that your Korean cooking is going well.
I use medium firm tofu. I hope that your pork stew turned out good!
Hi Maangchi-ssi,
I made this dish today. Unfortunately i didn’t take a picture. It was very easy to make, and very hearty and delicious. My husband asked me, “What is this?”, while taking few big spoonful of the meat, tofu and soup. He said it was delicious ^ㅇ^
We ate this with some brocoli salad, spicy dried squid sidedish, radish kimchi, and anchovy sidedish. We enjoyed our dinner very much. Thanks again for the delicious and easy recipe ^o^
I make something very similar. Daikon works well instead of potato and a little cabbage or nappa is nice too.
I blanch pork belly first for 10 minutes. It removes some of the impurities and fat. Allow to cool then slice it. Sometimes sear the belly skin side down first then add cold water to the pan.