{"id":147215,"title":"Authentic Sundubu Jjigae","modified":"2026-07-01T18:26:08+02:00","plain":"A Korean stew of ultra-soft tofu in a broth flavored with gochugaru, seafood, and garlic.\n\n\n\nA ttukbaegi arrives at the table still furiously bubbling. Its red broth, shimmering with gochugaru chili oil, carries aromas of garlic, briny seafood, and a hint of sesame. Beneath the surface, the sundubu breaks into pale, delicate curds—silky on the palate, yet buoyed by a bold, sea-scented broth.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou can already tell: a great meal is within easy reach.\n\n\n\nCraving spicy Korean pork with a real kick? Make a beeline for jeyuk bokkeum\n\n\n\nWhat Is Sundubu Jjigae?\n\n\n\nSundubu refers to fresh, mild, ultra-tender tofu; jjigae means stew. Unlike firmer tofu dishes such as mapo tofu, sundubu jjigae relies on unpressed tofu. \n\n\n\nThe dish pairs this tofu with an anchovy-kombu broth (called myeolchi-dashima yuksu), a gochugaru seasoning base (known as dadaegi), seafood or pork, vegetables, and a garnish of scallions.\n\n\n\nIf you prefer firmer tofu, there’s always mapo tofu\n\n\n\nIdeal sundubu comes in small, natural, delicate curds, often described as monggeul-monggeul. It should not be confused with yeon-dubu, a uniformly gelled silken tofu that does not absorb broth as well. \n\n\n\nThe red color comes from gochugaru, not gochujang : the chili flakes bring bright color and a clean heat, whereas gochujang thickens and mellows the broth.\n\n\n\nFrom Chodang to Koreatown\n\n\n\nThe most celebrated lineage of sundubu leads to Gangneung, on Korea’s east coast, and to the Chodang tradition. In the mid-Joseon period, the scholar-official Heo Yeop is said to have used renowned well water and mineral-rich seawater, drawn from the East Sea, as a coagulant. \n\n\n\nHe produced an exceptionally tender tofu, marked by a delicate marine salinity. The name Chodang comes from his pen name, and this tofu remains closely tied to Gangneung’s culinary identity.\n\n\n\nIf you’d like to stay with seafood and heat, try jjamppong\n\n\n\nTraditional production required a light hand : soy milk was heated carefully, then cooled before nigari was added, with coagulation closely monitored to avoid curds that were too tight or harsh. For a long time, this tender tofu belonged to a simpler, seasonal style of cooking, served as warm curds with soy sauce or slipped into comforting Asian soups.\n\n\n\nThe version now known around the world owes a great deal to Los Angeles in the 1990s. Served in a bubbling stone pot and loaded with pork, clams, mushrooms, chili oil, and often a raw egg, it took off after BCD Tofu House opened in Koreatown in the middle of the decade.\n\n\n\nServed with banchan such as kongnamul muchim, it helped shape the way many people picture the dish today, both in South Korea and abroad.\n\n\n\nKey Ingredients and What They Do\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSundubu : tender, fresh, unpressed tofu; its silky curds soak up the spicy, briny broth without losing their delicacy.\n\n\n\nAnchovy-kombu broth : the dish’s umami foundation, combining the glutamates of kombu with the inosinates of anchovy.\n\n\n\nGochugaru : clean heat and vivid red color; infused into oil, it creates the chili oil that defines the stew.\n\n\n\npork belly or ground pork : adds richness and savory depth to the seasoning base.\n\n\n\nClams, shrimp, or oysters : as they cook, they release briny juices that deepen the seafood flavor, much like in jjamppong.\n\n\n\nGarlic and scallion whites : form the aromatic backbone, balancing sweetness and sharpness.\n\n\n\nSoy sauce, saeujeot, or anchovy sauce : add layers of salinity and fermented depth.\n\n\n\nAehobak, onion, and mushrooms : bring vegetal sweetness and texture alongside the tender tofu; aehobak also features in aehobak jeon.\n\n\n\nNeutral oil, lard, and sesame oil : draw out the aroma and color of the gochugaru; sesame oil adds a nutty note.\n\n\n\nEgg : an optional hallmark of the Los Angeles style; it’s better gently poached, onsen tamago-style, than scrambled.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic Sundubu Jjigae\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t1 package silken tofu225 g kimchi (finely chopped)360 ml anchovy-kombu stock5 teaspoons kimchi juice1 egg (optional)For the chili oil2 teaspoons vegetable oil1 teaspoon Korean chili powderFor the seasoning1 teaspoon dried shrimpscallion (a little, thinly sliced)\t\n\t\n\t\tPreparationFinely chop the kimchi.Mix the kimchi with the kimchi juice.Heat a dolsot or a saucepan.Add the vegetable oil and Korean chili powder.Cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to sizzle, being careful not to let it burn.Add the kimchi and its juices, then cook until the kimchi is tender.Add the silken tofu, pour in the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer until the tofu is heated through.Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding the dried shrimp as needed.Add the scallion.If using the egg, crack it into a bowl and pour the white into the pot first; just before serving, place the yolk on top.\t\n\t\n\t\t\nIf you don't already have stock prepared, use water with Yeondu sauce.\nAlternatively, Korean tuna sauce or anchovy fish sauce can be used to mimic the stock.\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principalCor\u00e9enne","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147577,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147215\/revisions\/147577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}