Kimchi and Pork Belly Jjigae

I used to love to cook way back when, but life kind of stole that from me. Not long after we met, my wife, Crystal, was diagnosed with Gastroparesis and has been on a pretty restricted diet ever since. Later, my daughter, Lily, developed severe food allergies (dairy, eggs, and tree nuts) and a lot of anxiety around food in general. So food has never been a fun thing for them. You eat to consume the calories you need to live, which takes a lot of the joy out of cooking. When I cooked for all of us, it was very utilitarian, and I didn't see the point in cooking just for myself.

But that's been changing over the last few years. In order to get my physical fitness back on track, I need to not eat out so much, and if I'm going to eat at home more, then I need to enjoy what I am eating. Services like Hello Fresh have helped, but I also want to get back into the habit of cooking for myself from scratch.

I love making soup. It's easy. You make it in big batches and can eat it all week long. And there is such a wide variety of soups to make. One that I have been especially jazzed about lately is Jjigae, spicy Korean stew. This recipe is for one with kimchi (fermented cabbage) and pork belly. I've had it a few times at Seoul House, a Korean restaurant in town, and this recipe is an exact replica.

The only downside is that Wegmans, my local grocery store, doesn't sell pork belly in packages smaller than 6 pounds, so I have to use pork shoulder instead.

Ingredients

• 4 cups kimchi, chopped
• 1 pound pork belly, sliced
• 1 block tofu, cubed
• 8 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 green onions, chopped

Instructions

1. Sauté pork belly in sesame oil.
2. Add kimchi and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in gochujang and vegetable stock.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add tofu and green onions.
6. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Tips

• Serve with steamed rice to balance the spice.
• Use spicy and/or aged kimchi for a more robust flavor.
• Pork shoulder is an adequate substitute for pork belly.
• Freezes really well.
• Over stirring can break up the tofu.

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