hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the sundubu jjigae from the FX series “The Americans.” For those unfamiliar, the stew that the Jennings family are eating here is a classic Korean kimchi and soft tofu stew, prominently featuring the Korean chili powder “gochugaru,” which is a fairly mellow form of spice (not unlike the chili powder found here in the states). Sundubu jjigae also leans very heavily into fishy and brine-y umami with its use of a dried kombu sea kelp and anchovy stock, not unlike the rabokki recipe that we did a few months back as well.
While our gochugaru certainly does give the stew a deeply red color that looks quite spicy, I honestly think that this is a bit of a mislead, and it looks a little spicier than it actually is. Lastly, the final note that I’ll mention is that a truly classic sundubu jjigae is made using a Korean dolsot stone bowl. Apart from being a super iconic part of how this dish is plated, it also allows to you cook the stew directly in the stove in the bowl that you’ll be eating out of, which (as we’ll see in a moment) ends up being a super important part of how our poached egg turns out. I don’t own a dolsot stone bowl, so I’m gonna run through my best approach to work around this today as well. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
3-4 green onions
1lb (1 block) soft tofu
6-8 shrimp
1/2 cup kimchi
3 eggs
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup kimchi brine (or 1 tbsp each rice vinegar and fish sauce)
INGREDIENTS (stock)
1 sheet dried kombu kelp
1/4 cup dried anchovy
6 cups water
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
SEPARATE the whites and greens of the green onions, then slice thinly on a bias, set aside
SLICE the tofu into cubes, set aside
PEEL and devein the shrimp, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
COMBINE all stock ingredients in a wok, bring to a boil, and let simmer for 30 minutes
PASS stock through a mesh sieve to remove solids, and set aside
HEAT a wok as hot ass possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil, and long yao
ADD the garlic and whites of the green onions, then bloom until fragrant for about 10 seconds
ADD the shrimp and saute for about 10 seconds
MOVE everything to one side of the wok, then add the gochugaru and bloom until fragrant for about 20 seconds, then toss to combine
ADD the stock, sauce, and tofu to the wok, then toss to combine and let simmer for 30 minutes
REMOVE from heat, add to a bowl and drop an egg into the stew, then cover and let sit for 15 minutes
FINISH with greens of green onions