← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 300 g pork belly or shoulder (or Spam), cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 3 medium potatoes (about 600 g), cut into large chunks
• 1 Onion, cut into chunks
• 1 l water or anchovy stock
• 2 tbsp Gochujang
• 1 tbsp Doenjang (Korean soybean paste)
• 2 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce (optional)
• ½ Courgette (zucchini), cut into chunks
• 300 g firm tofu, cut into cubes (optional)
• 3 Spring onion, cut into 5 cm lengths
• 1 Green chilli, sliced
• Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat and fry the pork for 4–5 min, until it has released some fat and browned lightly.
2. Add the potatoes and onion and stir-fry for 2 min. Pour in the water and stir in the gochujang, doenjang, gochugaru, soy sauce, garlic and sugar.
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer over medium heat for 15 min, stirring now and then, until the potatoes are almost tender.
4. Add the courgette and tofu and simmer for 8–10 min more, until the potatoes are soft at the edges and the broth has thickened. Season with fish sauce if it needs more depth.
5. Add the spring onion, chilli and black pepper, simmer for 1 minute and serve in the pot with rice.

Tips

• Jjageuli means a stew thicker than jjigae; crush a few potato chunks against the pot if you want it thicker still.
• Spam is the much-loved shortcut: add it with the potatoes and skip the browning step.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Aaron and Claire FutureDish chopsticks and flour