Budae Jjigae, or army base stew, is a fusion stew developed in Korea that is now a staple dish. After the Korean War in the early 1950’s, food was extremely scarce in Korea, so surplus processed foods from the US military bases were a great supplement. Budae jjigae includes American processed foods such as spam, sausages, canned baked beans and sliced cheese, combined with classic Korean flavors such as kimchi, gochujang, ramyun noodles - the end product is 💯💯💯
PREP TIME: 10 min
COOK TIME: 15min
SERVES: 4
INGREDIENTS
- dried anchovies, 4 pieces (for broth)
- dried kelp (kombu), 1 large piece ( for broth)
- broth, 2-4 cups
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 2 tbs gochugaru
- 1 tbs gochujang
- 1 cup well fermented napa kimchi
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup cabbage, chopped
- 1/2 package Spam, sliced
- 2 hot dog meat or sausage
- 4-8oz mushroom (enoki,
- 1/2 package firm tofu
- 1 package ramyun noodles (I ususally use shin ramyun)
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Other optional ingredients: rice cakes (dduk), canned baked beans, Kraft American cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Make the broth by boiling 6 cups of water with the anchovies and kelp for 20 min.
- Pour 2-3 cups of the broth into a large shallow pot (save the rest of the broth for later)
- Pour in the seasoning paste of 1tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs gochujang, 8 minced garlic cloves, and 1-2 tbs gochugaru (adjust the gochujang and gochugaru amount based on your heat tolerance)
- Add in the cabbage, spam, sausage, tofu, and kimchi in the pot
- Cook over med-high heat for 10 min. (usually this is done over a portable burner hot pot style)
- When it starts boiling, add the ramyun noodle. Sprinkle in the scallions. As soon as the noodles are cooked, in about 3 min, you can start eating.
- Add more broth as needed.
- Enjoy!