On a cold autumn evening, I re-visited my Korean cookbook; this recipe leapt out at me and begged to be cooked. In order to maintain a healthy body temperature during cold weather, folks around the world cook up hot soups and this pepper infused stew looked like the perfect cold weather elixir. It is so quick and easy to prepare I eat it a couple dinners a week. Aside from the delightful kimchi*, the main ingredient is called Kochujang, a tasty paste made from glutinous rice powder mixed with powdered fermented soybeans and red peppers. On a visit to my favorite Korean grocer, I found a red box of it made by CJ Foods. The ingredients also included malt syrup but it contained no preservatives except for some grain alchohol, I can deal with that. As soon as I got into the car I popped the lid and ran my finger through the vermillion paste and stuck the warm slightly sweet lump in my mouth. After two more fingers I put it away as a light warm mist developed on my forehead.
As soon as I got home, I put a pan on the fire and sauteed a few cloves of garlic in some Canola oil, olive somehow seemed foreign to the intention. I chopped up about a cup of kimchi and added it to the mixture. After pouring a half a box of chicken stock I added a couple tablespoons of the Kochujang. I let it come to a boil and tossed in half a block of tofu cubed. I had also purchased some frozen kim chee dumplings which I tossed in for the last 3 minutes. A litle garnish of chopped scallions and the feast was ready.
The basic recipe:
1 tsp light-flavored oil, like canola (cooking spray works, too)
3 cloves garlic, minced
handful of pork, sliced thin (if desired)
Kochujang to taste, start with a couple tablespoons
1 cup kimchee, cut into large bite-size pieces
1 tsp soy sauce
2 cups water or chicken stock
3 green onions, chopped for garnish
1/2 block FIRM tofu, cut into 1 in cubes
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil for garnish
* kimchi is pickled napa cabbage with hot red pepper, fish sauce, sugar and garlic ( simply delcious! ) Google it if you would like read more….
Coming Next: The cousin from the west: Hungarian Sauerkraut Soup