[ENG] Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Base Stew)

Okay, i have a confession. The photo above was not the one i made :(( It was from 2 years ago when i went to a korean restaurant ^^ So, my friends & I had a samgyeopsal party at my place, and we also made this budae jjigae. It was really yummy! I would say the taste's not so different from what i ate in the restaurant, and maybe even better, since we added  a certain "secret ingredient" that i'll reveal in the end of this post kkk...

But i was too busy eating that i didn't any get pretty shots :( And the food was gone in a flash, so nope, there's no way i had time for taking pictures hahaha... These are also the photos at the korean restaurant, just to give you an idea of what budae jjigae is like..

So, It's basically a spam & sausage spicy korean stew. This dish is pretty popular in Korea. It's originated during the Korean War, when people had little to eat. So they combined left over spam & sausages from the  US army facilities with whatever else available & make it into a spicy stew.  It may seems odd to add spam & sausages to a traditional korean stew, but it really is delicious! If you like spam & sausages, you will love this! 

Ingredients (4 servings):

1 can SPAM
1 pack beef/pork sausage
1-2 cup fermented sour kimchi
1 onion
2-3 stalks green onion
1 zucchini
1 pack tofu
1-2 pack ramyeon (korean instant ramen noodle)
sliced cheese (optional)
8 cups (2 litre) anchovy stock 

for the sauce:
1 tbsp gochujang
2 tbsp korean red pepper flakes
1 tbsp soy sauce
3-4 cloves garlic

Sauce recipe addapted from mykoreanrecipe - Army Camp Stew

1. Make the anchovy stock. Since i couldn't find any dried anchovy, so i "cheated" and use anchovy stock powder instead kkk...

I simply boil about 8 cup water, add in 2-3 tbsp anchovy powder & some sliced onion. Mix well, bring it to a boil & simmer for 30 minutes.

Source: http://gochugarugirl.com/2014/08/spicy-tofu-stew/

2. Make the sauce: combine all the ingredients together & mix well.

3. Remove SPAM from the can, cut into half. Cut each half into about 1/2 cm slices. Do the same with the tofu. Cut the sausages into slices diagonally.

3. Cut the onion & green onion into thin slices. Cut zucchini into 1 cm slices. Using kitchen scissors, cut the kimchi into bite size pieces.

4. Arrange the veggies & meat in a stew pan. Add half of the sauce in the center, top it with ramyeon noodle.

Now, you can choose to add or not to add the "secret ingredient", which is........ ramyeon seasoning lol 

If you don't add it, add more sauce & salt. Don't add all the sauce at this point, you can add more to adjust to your taste when it finish cooking.

5. Pour in the anchovy stock, just enough to almost cover all the ingredients. You can also add some kimchi juice to add more flavor. Turn on the heat to high, cook until the noodle is tender or until the broth become a little thick, mix well.

almost gone already...

(Optional)

If you want to add cheese, wait until all the ingredients is almost cooked through, turn the heat down to low, add the cheese & mix well. If you add the cheese in the beginning, it'll lose it's taste and you're not gonna be able to taste any cheese.

Also check my recipe on how i made Samgyeopsal for the party!

[ENG] Korean BBQ - Samgyeopsal Party

Thanks for reading! ;))

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budae_jjigae