Korean Army Stew / Budae Jjigae (부대찌개)

Made budae jjigae (Korean army stew) for dinner on Friday night. Referred to 2 recipes, by My Korean Kitchen and Maangchi, but ultimately did it my own way.(„• ֊ •„)੭ Traditionally, the soup base is made of kelp and anchovies (aka ikan bilis here). But I used a mixture of the homemade prawn stock and chicken stock (store bought) for the base, and added the Wanting Kimchi aged kimchi and jjigae paste. I love Wanting's various kimchi, especially the fresh kimchi and the apple kimchi; the latter is crisp and juicy with a refreshing, sweet-sour-spicy flavour profile that makes it super addictive.

Budae jjigae is often described as a wartime fusion dish that was created out of necessity. First created out of the US army discarded leftovers (literally trash), the initial dish was known as ggulgguri juk, i.e. "piggy porridge". Then later, surplus military rations from the US bases, usually obtained on the black market or from people with access. These rations were typically processed meats or canned foods; so yeah, sausages, luncheon meat (aka Spam), baked beans.

Hubby and I belong to opposing camps when it comes to budae jjigae. He absolutely loves it, I dislike it. On a trip to Seoul back in 2021/2022, he had it 5 times over 1.5 weeks. I'm personally not a fan of budae jjigae because of all the processed foods in it, as well as its overall high calorie and high sodium count. I especially detest luncheon meat (aka Spam), canned baked beans, instant ramyeon and American cheese, which make up the classic staples in present-day budae jjigae... But I do like the stew base, which is same/similar to kimchi jjigae. Honestly, there is no fixed or right recipe or ingredients for budae jjigae. Essentially, it's a jjigae made with processed food products and leftovers. So I can just add whatever other ingredients I would eat.

Home made budae jjigae, our own way.

For our stew, I layered Chinese cabbage, onion, firm tofu, luncheon meat, 2 types of sausages (beef+cheese and chicken+cheese) and thinly sliced shabu shabu-style beef. Originally intended to include daikon radish, shimeji mushrooms, spinach and prawns, but my pot ran out of space. We went a bit overboard and ended up making a stew for 4 pax when it's just the 2 of us. (๑>؂•̀๑)

It was also my first test-run with the induction-compatible donabe claypot, to be precise, the 2.7L Ginpo Kikka induction donabe. And it works very well on our induction stove. Now we just need to buy a tabletop induction cooker for hotpot/steamboat.

Home made budae jjigae, perfect for the rainy day.

Had the leftovers tonight, and we added more ingredients to the pot. More of the beef+cheese sausages, chicken cocktail sausages, luncheon meat, the spinach and shimeji mushrooms, instant ramyeon (Hubby), tteokbokki (me). Oh and cheese; I used sliced cheddar. It's a pretty good substitute for American cheese and takes the edge off the spice.