Kimchi Tofu Stew

Argh, terrible picture, but oh so delicious dinner! I took this picture before I stirred the tofu in, that's why it looks so pasty white. Stir carefully when you do so that the tofu doesn't break.

Kimchi tofu stew or kimchi jigae is like korean comfort food (at least to me it is). It comes in a burning hot black stone bowl still bubbling at restaurants. At our house, it comes in a dutch oven.

So after going for a hike with my friend Stephanie, we were talking about going out to dinner. She suggested Korean. Then after some more discussion, we decided we'd come over to my house and MAKE Korean instead. We made the kimchi fried rice that I posted earlier and this! It was much better than the restaurants if I do say so myself =P Now, I just need to go get some of those special bowls they serve these in!

I usually put seafood (shrimp, imitation crab, baby clams, etc) but since this was a spur of the moment thing, I didn't have any. Steph suggested ground pork. OMG, sooo much better and I'm not going back to the seafood version again.

Kimchi tofu soup is easy, delicious and healthy.

Ingredients:
- One onion sliced thinly
- 4-5 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
- 5-6 mushrooms (I used shitake, but button or cremini is fine too) sliced thinly
- 1/3 lb of ground pork
- 3/4 cups of kimchi and kimchi juice
- 1 box of tofu (soft or silken, I prefer silken) cut into cubes
- soy or fish sauce to taste
- korean chili paste or chili flakes/powder to taste
- egg (optional)

Method:
- Heat up your pot and add a bit of oil. Add the onions and cook until soft.
- Add garlic and mushrooms.
- Add ground pork and break it up with your spatula.
- Add kimchi and some kimchi juice (to taste). If you used dried shitake mushrooms, add the water that you soaked the mushrooms in, minus the gritty stuff that fell to the bottom.
- Add tofu and stir gently to avoid breaking the tofu.
- Taste. If it's not salty enough, add a bit of soy or fish sauce. If you want more liquid, add some water or chicken broth. If you want it spicier, add a bit of chili paste or chili flakes.
- If you want, you can add an egg at this point like they do at restaurants.
- Serve over rice.