Sundubu-jjigae (sometimes spelled soondubu-jjigae) is a spicy, seasoned stew made with a type of silky soft tofu called sundubu. Served hot at the table in its traditional earthenware bowl, it’s impossible to resist. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like sundubu-jjigae after they tried it. All it takes is one time!
If you go to a Korean sundubu-jjigae restaurant you’ll be surprised at how many varieties they make. This version is my favorite. When I go to the restaurant I always choose the seafood version, and it’s the one I most like to make at home, too. I’ve created a sundubu-jjigae section on my website that includes all the sundubu-jjigae recipes I’ve made so far. If you follow any of those recipes exactly, you will have some really delicious stew!
Usually we Koreans have sundubu-jjigae in a Korean earthenware bowl, but so many of you have told me over the years that you can’t get that bowl, or want to feed more people than you have bowls, so I’m including a serving alternative at the end of this recipe that explains how to serve it in regular bowls.
I have a funny story about Korean earthenware bowls (ttukbaegi). When I was making my first cookbook, my editor Rux and my literary agent came over to my house in New York for lunch. I made them bibimbap in Korean earthenware bowls. Rux was surprised to see me doing this, she said “Oh, where can I buy those bowls?”
I said “At a Korean grocery store! Do you want me to help you buy one?”
She said “Sure!” So we took a taxi down to Koreatown on 32nd street. She bought a lot of them, maybe 7 or 8 bowls! They were so heavy. Rux doesn’t even live in New York, she lives in Vermont. I helped her take all those heavy bowls to her hotel and then she later took them all the way home to Vermont in her car. Ever since we made that cookbook she’s been cooking Korean food all the time and has become better and better at it. Her whole family are big fans of Korean food now, all the way to her granddaughter, and she says she’s the Maangchi of Vermont now.
I chose large shrimp in my recipe but you don’t have to use shrimp that big. Just use smaller shrimp or even cocktail shrimp and the broth will still be delicious.
I wanted to show you a typical sundubu-jjigae table setting in the video. What you need to do is completely set the table with the side dishes and everything so that when the sundubu-jjigae is bubbling on the stove you can bring it right out to serve, directly on to the table. If you keep it boiling on the stove while you set up the table, the seafood will get tough and the sundubu-jjigae will actually boil down, which you really don’t want.
Enjoy the recipe! I hope you become the Maangchi of your area! : )
Ingredients (for 2 servings)
- ¼ cup gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup (about 1 ounce) chopped onion
- 1 large king oyster mushroom (or ½ cup of any mushrooms), chopped
- 1 large green onion (dae-pa) or 2 green onions, the white part and green part separated and chopped
- 2½ cups anchovy kelp stock (or vegetable stock, or beef or chicken broth)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or salt to your taste)
- 2 tubes soft tofu (or 22 ounces silken tofu)
- 2 to 3 large deveined shrimp in the shell, rinsed
- 6 fresh shucked or shucked frozen oysters, rinsed
- 4 to 6 fresh mussels, cleaned and rinsed
- 2 eggs
Directions
- Combine the hot pepper flakes, sesame oil, and black pepper in a small bowl. Mix well with a spoon until the hot pepper flakes absorb all the oil. Set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, the chopped white part of the green onion, and mushroom. Stir with a wooden spoon until the onion and garlic are slightly brown and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock. Cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until it’s boiling vigorously.
- Add shrimp, oysters, and mussels. Cut the tubes of tofu in half and squeeze them into the boiling stew, and then break up the tofu a bit with a wooden spoon. If using silken tofu, scoop or squeeze from the box into the stew.
- Add the fish sauce (or salt to your taste), half of the hot pepper mixture, and stir a few times.
- Cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until the seafood is fully cooked and the broth is infused with its savory flavor.
2 ways to serve:
Serve in Korean earthenware bowls:
- Ladle the stew into 2 earthenware bowls (2½ cup bowls work best) and place them on the stove top. Heat them up over high heat. Add the leftover seasoning mixture on top of the stew in each bowl.
- When the stews starts bubbling, crack the eggs into each bowl. Cook for another minute until vigorously boiling. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the green part of the chopped green onion over top.
- Serve right away while it’s bubbling, with rice, kimchi, and more side dishes on the side.
Serve in regular soup bowls:
- Add the second half of the seasoning mixture to the boiling stew in the pot and mix it in a bit. Carefully crack the eggs into the bubbling stew, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes until the eggs are slightly (or half) cooked. Remove from the heat.
- Gently ladle the stew into two soup bowls without disturbing the eggs. Scoop up each egg and place one in each bowl.
- Sprinkle the green part of the chopped green onion over top and serve right away with rice, kimchi, and more side dishes.
Buy this recipe's ingredients online
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Kay Nguyen,
Thank you!
Hi! Maangchi
Thanks very much for posting the recipe. This is the best recipe ever. It was so delicious!!!!!. I really enjoy your website.
Thank you “꽃순이”! : ) Happy New Year!
언니가 애국자예요. 새해 복많이 받으시고 건강하세요.
미르 and zixu in Korea,
Thank you for your nice comments!
wow are you korean?? really great, and i like doo boo very much ~~ !! >_<
멋지네요 정말! 요리도 잘하시는데 영어로 설명까지 잘하시네요 ㅋㄷ 우왕ㅋ굳ㅋ홈페이지도 참 깔끔하고 예쁘네요 ㅎㅎ^^
맛있겠당!!!
Looks delicious
Bea,
wow you are very serious about cooking.
My answer
Q1: I think it will be ok. Is its color bright red?
If so, I will be ok, but it may be too hot.
I know Thailand small red pepper is very spicy!
Q2: Yes, that’s soybean paste and its brand name is
“assi (아씨)”
Q3: No, I have never used that kind of soup powder or liquid. As you see it in my recipe,
I use homemade stock using dried anchovies, shiitake mushrooms, onion, radish, and kelp.
Maangchi,
Thank you so much for posting a video tutorial. As easy as it looks, I still have questions. Sorry! I’m not Korean so I can’t read any of the labels. Even with some English on the labels I STILL have questions! haha
Question #1:
For the pepper flakes , can I use Thai dried pepper flakes? That is what I have at home.
Question #2:
I bought soy bean paste (just in case I can use it for this soup) because there’s a picture of the tofu soup on the container and hoping that it will give the broth some flavor. Please see picture here… http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/fruitcakeinc/SoyBeanPaste.jpg
Can I use it for this soup? I have no idea if it even has anything to do with the picture.
Question #3:
I also found some tofu broth seasoning…have you tried it?
See picture here http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/fruitcakeinc/TofuBrothSeasoning.jpg
Since I bought it, might as well try it huh? hehe =) Thank you so much for your help. Sorry for so many questions!
I can’t wait to try making it! I love Korean food!
Thanks,
Bea
Hi maangchi,
How do I go about making a vegetarian version of this? Thanks.
Thank you. I will look forward to them. In the meantime I will play and experiement a little. I hope that I will be able to “find” all the right ingredients. I have the fortunate problem of having too many brands and items to choose from.
Kevin,
Welcome to my home (my website)! : )
kongbiji jjigae is really good food especially in the winter. Your request kongbiji jjigae and daakgalbi will be included in the list of my upcoming video recipes.
Thank you very much!
Maangchi,
I just stumbled onto your site tonight. I am excited. I am teaching English in Korea and have fallen in love with the food. I love to cook but haven’t tried experimenting with Korean food since I don’t have any recepies. I can’t wait to start trying new things as well as cooking some of my favorites.
I have a question on this receipe. It looks very similar to a favorite of mine 콩비지찌개. Do you have a receipe for this 찌개? I would also love to see a receipe for dak galbi (닭갈비). I only need the sauce. The cabbage, chicken, rice cakes, and sweet potatoes are a no brainer.
Thank you for this awesome website and information.
dougv,
I hope your friends love your oisobagi (cucumber kimchi)! thanks!
I found your site looking for a cucumber kimche recipe and I immediately bookmarked it; I will be using your site in the near future when I have a dinner party. I will serve some of my favorite Korean dishes, sharing them with friends who never had the pleasure of living in Korea and enjoying the wonderful cuisine. Thank you for your recipes.
kristine,
It sounds like perfect food for the weather you mention. Cold and rainy days! Soondubu will be perfect dish! lol, you couldn’t stand up because of too much food? So do I! I sometimes eat too much and I can’t move easily, : )
Hi maangchi
It was cold and rainy day at san francisco here, so I decided to make soondubu jjigae today for dinner. It turned out yummy and I ate so much that I could not even get up. It was good for my body and soul on a rainy evening like this. Happy holidays and thank you for the video which makes it so much easier to cook korean food. btw, I am 1.5 korean generation living in SF.
Jaime,
oh, Thank you very much!
this is the best soon du bu recipe ever. My husband made this for the first time few months ago, it was awesome!!!! I came back for making soon du bu tonight!!!
thank you.
sueet,
oh, your soondubu jjigae looks awesome to me! Congratulation!
hey maangchi…
i made the soup just now… doesn’t look as good as yours… but was delicious!!
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1zr2ced&s=4
Chi,
I’m glad to hear about your success! dried shrimp sounds good to me!
poohbear,
If you skip seafood, you gotta put something which makes the stew tasty such as beef, pork, or chicken, and use chicken broth.
adelebidet,
yeah, skip the hot pepper flakes then.
is there anything special you do for hayakeh (not spicy)? it’s always been my obsession at soondubu places how good it is when it isn’t even spicy (and i LOVE spicy stuff)
sorry what i meant was frozen cooked shrimp
oh btw, if my husband doesnt eat seafood & i omit that, will it still flavor the soup well? or do u recommend atleast putting in the shrimp (b/c he eats that) & also is cooked shrimp ok too? thank you =)
Hi Maangchi~! i just found your website & youtube videos & im SOOOOO happy i did! i got married 2 yrs ago & live far away from my family so i am always looking for korean food recipes like my mom’s~ im so thankful to have found urs! everything looks great!
Made it again last weekend per husband’s request. This time I used dried shrimp and the flavor was flawless.
Portugalbear,
Sooner or later, you will make the most delicious soondubu jjigae. :)
Hi Maangchi,
I finally tried this dish and it was really good. But i think i mixed it too much because the tofu got mashed in the process. I agree with Chi, better to throw in the seafood at the end of the cooking since it cooks really fast anyways. The broth is really tasty when you use the anchovies. i will next try the other tofu dish.
Chi,
hoho, I’m so glad to hear that!
By the way, if you are using fresh shrimp like I did, add the shrimp about the same time you add eggs. Non-frozen shrimp takes only a minute or two to cook. By adding them last to the pot my shrimps turned out succulent and just the right doneness.
DELICIOUS, people, this tofu stew is absolutely delicious!
My american husband asked me to put this into our family recipe book after he tasted the amazing stew.
I would not use bonoto flakes next time though. They turned out to be way too distinctive. I imagine either dried shrimps or anchovies would blend with the flavor better. Also, because I only had about 1 Tbsp of fish sauce left in the bottle (did not pay much attention to my pantry supplies…) so the soup was not salty enough. After added 1/4 tsp of salt it was fine.
Chi,
I understand you!
tofueater,
I would use fish sauce. : )
I made soon du bu today. It came out good except it was not salty enough. Should I just add more fish sauce or should I add some salt?