← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 400 g thinly sliced pork belly, cut into 5 cm pieces
• 400 g well-fermented kimchi, plus 4 tbsp of its juice
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 1 l Dashi powder or stock
• 1 tbsp Sake
• 1 tbsp Gochujang
• 1 tsp Gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Miso paste
• 6 napa cabbage leaves, cut into 5 cm pieces, stems and leaves apart
• ½ Onion, sliced
• ½ Carrot, thinly sliced
• 400 g medium-firm tofu, cut into cubes
• 200 g enoki or shimeji mushrooms
• 150 g Bean sprouts
• 1 bunch garlic chives (nira) or spring onions, cut into 5 cm lengths

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a donabe or casserole over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the pork for 2 min, then add the kimchi and fry for 2 min more; frying the kimchi deepens its flavour.
2. Pour in the dashi with the sake, gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, soy sauce and kimchi juice and bring to the boil. Dissolve the miso in a ladle of broth and stir it in.
3. Add the cabbage stems, onion, carrot and tofu and simmer for 8 min.
4. Add the cabbage leaves, mushrooms and bean sprouts and simmer for 3 min, then lay the garlic chives on top.
5. Serve at the table, ladling broth and fillings into bowls.

Tips

• Older, sourer kimchi gives a deeper broth; taste and add a little more sugar if it is very sharp.
• Finish with ramen noodles, or rice, beaten egg and grated cheese, in the leftover broth.

Sources

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

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101