Budae Jijae

Budae Jijae? Jijae is a type of thick Korean soup that can equate to a stew. So have you ever heard of budae jijae? Budae Jijae originated only after the Korean war where food is scarce in Seoul, South Korea. Due to scarcity of food, food like hot dogs and ham were made together with a mixture of gochujang (red pepper paste), gochugaru (hot chilli pepper powder) and kimchi.

Till today, many South Koreans still eat budae jijae. Modern ingredients like instant noodles, American cheese, ground beef, baked beans, onions, green onions, mushrooms, garlic have also been added to the budae jijae of today.

With the perfect rainy weather these days, what can be better than a piping hot pot of budae jijae? ;)

The recipe below is modified from noobcook and aeriskitchen.

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp gochujang (red pepper chilli paste) (according to your taste)
• 3 tbsp gochugaru (hot chilli pepper powder) (according to your taste)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp rice wine 
• 750 ml chicken or anchovy stock
•  2-3 tbsp fish sauce (or salt) (according to your taste)
• 100 grams minced beef marinated with 1 tbsp gochujang, 1 tsp sesame oil and white pepper
• 3 hot dogs (sausages/frankfurters) 
• 1/2 can spam or (luncheon meat)
• 1/2 leek
• 1/2 white onion
• 100 grams button mushrooms 
• 30 grams dangmyeon (sweet potato noodles) 
• 100 grams duk guk (flat oval rice cakes)
• 1 cup cut kimchi
• 1 x 200 grams baked beans
•  cheese slices
• 1 packet ramyeon (instant noodles)
•  chilli slices and spring onions 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make the soup paste by combining gochujang, gochugaru, sesame oil, garlic powder and rice wine in a bowl.
2. In a soup pot, bring chicken or anchovy stock to a boil and dissolve the soup paste in it. Season to taste with fish sauce (or salt) and more gochugaru, if needed. Turn off the stove.
3. In a shallow casserole, arrange all the ingredients in a platter. 
4. When ready to serve, add prepared soup base to the casserole. Bring the soup to a simmer and gently break the minced beef to smaller pieces with a spatula. Cover with lid and simmer the stew for about 10 minutes to cook all the ingredients. 
5. After 10 minutes, add cheese slices on top and cook one packet of ramyeon (without the seasoning). Garnish with chilli and spring onions.

This is my rendition of Budae Jijae.

As usual Mr G is thumbs up for this dish with lots of meat and vegetables. We didn't even have any rice or noodles and we were already so stuffed with it. This is perfect for a rainy day where you just want to have a hot and spicy soup to warm up your stomach.

I'm submitting this dish to Aspiring Bakers #37: Korean - Feast of Hansik (November 2013) hosted by Grace(Life can be simple).