It’s about time for some sizzling, comforting stew, isn’t it? How about sundubu-jjigae? It’s hot, spicy, filling, comforting, delicious, soft tofu stew and has many reasons to be one of the most popular items in Korean restaurants.
I made a video and recipe for sundubu-jjigae seven years ago (!) and it’s been watched over a million times on YouTube (!!). So it was about time for an HD remake and a variation on the recipe, too. That recipe was for seafood sundubu-jjigae, which is my favorite, but since then I’ve learned that kimchi-sundubu-jjigae is more popular. This recipe is is for that version, it’s sundubu-jjigae made with kimchi and pork belly, really hard to go wrong with this dish. Whichever one you choose, you won’t be disappointed. Both are delicious, spicy, and savory, much better than anything you can order at a restaurant.
This recipe serves 1 or two people, but you can double or triple the recipe for more people, and use a large stainless steel or cast iron pot for the cooking. If you want to serve everyone in a ttukbaegi then you’ll need to cook them on multiple burners, just like a restaurant!
Enjoy my recipe, and let me know if you make this! Take a photo and send it to me!
Ingredients (Serves 1 or 2)
- 8 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- 5 ounces of radish, peeled, washed, and sliced thinly
- dried kelp (6 x 4 inch piece)
- 2 tablespoons Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ cup pork belly (or any cut of pork: 2.5 ounces), cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 green onion, chopped
- ½ cup well-fermented kimchi (4 ounces), chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tube of soft tofu (sundubu)
- 1 egg
Directions
Make anchovy kelp stock (myeolchi dasima yuksu):
- Put dried anchovies, radish, dried kelp, and 4 cups of water in a pot. Cover and boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes until it starts boiling.
- Reduce the heat to low and boil another 20 minutes
- Remove from the heat and strain. It will make about 2 cups of stock.
Make the spicy paste:
- Combine the hot pepper flakes and the sesame oil in a small bowl and mix well.
Put it all together:
- Heat up a 3 cup earthenware pot (ttukbaegi) on the stove over medium high heat for about 3 to 4 minutes. If you use a small heavy pan or pot, it will take less.
- Add the vegetable oil, onion, and garlic. Stir it with a wooden spoon for 1 minute.
- Add the pork. Stir for 3 minutes until the pork is no longer pink.
- Add kimchi and keep stirring for a minute. Add ½ cup anchovy stock. Cover and cook for 7 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the salt and the sugar and mix well.
- Cut the tube of soft tofu into half and squeeze it out into the pot. Gently break up the tofu with a wooden spoon. If you want, add a few tablespoons of stock.
- Put the hot pepper mixture on top and spread it with the spoon.
- Crack the egg and put it on top, in the center of the stew. Let it bubble and sizzle for 1 minute.
Serve:
- Sprinkle with the chopped green onion and serve with rice and a few more side dishes.
Hi Maangchi! I made the stew – it was spicy, bubbly, one of the best things I have ever made. Kimchi tastes so different when cooked, turns out I love kimchi in any form and shape! And the egg at the end – I kept eating around it till most of the dish was finished, and then broke the yolk… Omg, loved it. Sorry, I have no pic – it was so good I ate it before I remembered to take a photo :) Thanks for this awesome recipe. Love your cooking!
Hi!! i made this today following the youtube that you post. eventhough I dont have all the ingredient for the soup base, also the radish not intend to buy just for this recipe because its a huge one and I wont be using it for any other recipe soon. I put carrot in instead though for a little sweetness.
The soup was really great!!! I can just have it purely on its own!!.
Thanks Maangchi!!
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Hi Maangchi,
Question: Is there a reason that you use chicken stock in your book versus creating the stock using anchovies and kelp in your recipe online? Is taste the same? I deciding whether to use this recipe (which I have in the past) versus the chicken stock used in your book (which I love!!).
Thank you!
And when I say love, I love the book. I haven’t tried soondubu with the chicken stock yet.
Thank you very much for leaving the question here.
Yes, in my tofu stew recipe, I used a can of chicken broth instead of using homemade anchovy stock. Actually you can try both and choose which one you like.
Korean sundubu-jjigae has many versions depending on the ingredients (seafood, pork, beef, kimchi, bulgogi, vegetables).
Hi Maangchi!
I made this for the first time tonight! I did not know what to expect from the flavor since I have never tried it before but you made it look so wonderful I had to make it. It was delicious!! My whole family loved it on this rare cold night in Florida. :). Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful and easy to follow recipe!
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Congratulations! Your kimchi pork sundubujjigae looks perfect! I’m very happy to hear that your family loved it! Happy cooking!
Been pretty making this all winter. Thanks!
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I’m glad you enjoy this recipe! It looks awesome! You will become a queen or king of sundubu jjigae making soon. : )
Wow! Looks so delicious Maangchi! I love Korean food, thanks so much for your wonderful recipes. Only need dried sardines to make soondubu jiggae, they have them at H-Mart here in Chicago.
Great! Get large dried anchovies. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/dried-anchovies-myulchi
Love your recipe <3
It's delicious.
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Thank you for sharing the photos! It looks very delicious!
Made this last week and it came out so good. Thank you for sharing your recipes. Definitely want your cook book. I adjusted it to make it family sized since I do not yet have dolsots (the Asian grocery I frequent have not had any dolsots right now) to make it individually for each of us so had to make it in one pot.
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ooh~ many egg yolks! It must have been shared by all your family! : ) Delicious!
Very delicious Maangchi!!! I will consider using anchovy stock for kimchi jjigae next time. I love it
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Yum! : )
Hi maangchi i’m fay from malaysia love your utube channel and you hihi may i ask… Can i replace hot pepper flakes with chilli flakes? Is it same taste? Or i can replace with gochujang? Which one is better? Or i must use hot pepper flakes? Any suggestion what should i replace the hot pepper flakes? I cant find any stores sell it aroud my place… Tq
Hi Fay, I think you should find Korean hot pepper flakes if you really learn Korean cooking. Hot pepper flakes (gochu-garu) are very essential to Korean cooking This is a list of Korean grocery stores in Malaysia. https://www.maangchi.com/shopping/malaysia
Hi Maangchi… thank you for the list. I have been frequenting iSetan KLCC as per listed in your list and am really glad that you have listed more store for me to visit. You will be glad that I have tried a lot of Korean recipes and mostly are from your youtube channel :) I have made sundubu jjigae last week and this week is attempting at the spicy chicken feet.
I’ve been at the store in KLCC when I visited Malaysia a few years ago. https://www.maangchi.com/blog/gapshida-malaysia
I’m glad your Korean cooking is going well!
Hello Maangchi!
I’ve been a long time watcher and recently picked up your Cookbook! I made soondubu jjigae the other night for me and my partner and it was absolutely phenominal. I didn’t have any korean radish so I substituted some shitake mushrooms and the stock was AMAZING! I added mussels and a few small rice cakes and it turned out really well. I also used some of the stock ingredients to make banchan!
Thank you for the recipes and keep up the good work!
Zack
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Hello Maangchi should I still add radish and dried kelp if I replace anchovies with chicken broth?
No, you don’t need to add radish and dried kelp. Use just chicken or beef broth.
Hi Maangchi! Thanks for your wonderful site :) I’m just wondering of its possible to freeze the left over anchiovy stock?
Yes, freezing the stock is a great idea.
I Made this today and added mushrooms and squash. So easy and so yummy.
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Mushrooms and squash sounds great! What kind of mushrooms did you use?
Just regular white mushrooms found at the regular grocery store. My mom had left them in my fridge when she visited. I’m excited to try other things now that an h mart has opened near my house. I like to put fish cakes in everything, do you think cut up fish cakes would go well with this stew?
oh white mushrooms! “an h mart has opened near my house” I know how you feel! I can’t live far away from a Korean grocery store. : ) Yes, adding some fish cakes sounds great to me.
THANK YOU!! I really enjoy making 통배추김치 (cabbage kimchi) but I only ate it with rice and didn’t really know what else to do with it. I am so happy to see this video and recipe. I made this dish for the past two days and shared it with my family. Only my 9 year old son didn’t want it because it was too spicy for him! It is so delicious that I feel I can eat it every day! I am so excited!
Today I will be making kimchi soup with pork and tofu.
Happy Cooking everyone!!
Thank you Maangchi!
Keramira
attached is my soup picture
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