Kimchi Jjigae (김치찌개) Kimchi Stew

Who doesn't have some old kimchi sitting in the back of your fridge taking up space?  Give it a new lease on life with one of my all-time favorite dishes.  When it's good, there's nothing better in Korea.  When it's bad, it's still pretty good.  Fiery-spicy, infernally bubbling, and a little bit sour.  There's almost nothing better.  It's also absurdly easy to make.

Nothing better

Ingredients: (4 servings)
1/4 head of kimchi (~600g)
300g pork
1/2 onion, sliced
1 big leek, sliced
1 green chili, sliced thin
1/2 block tofu, cubed
5 cups sardine broth*
1/2 cup kimchi juice**
1 spoon soybean oil

The good stuff

Meat Spices:
2 spoons crushed chilies
2 spoons cheong-ju (청주)
1 spoon minced garlic
pinch of pepper

Kitchen Scissors: a chef's best friend

Kimchi Spices:
1 spoon sesame oil
1 small spoon sugar


**Cut kimchi and pork into bite-sized slices.**

Steps:

1. Mix pork with Meat Spices.  In another bowl, mix kimchi with Kimchi Spices.  Let sit 20-30 mins.
2. Add oil to a pan.  Fry pork and spices.  When the meat starts to brown, add kimchi.  Fry.  Add onions, fry.
3. When onions have started cooking, add broth and kimchi juice.  Simmer 20 mins over medium heat.
4. When the kimchi is ready (it will start to look a little translucent), add tofu, leeks, green chilis.  Heat to a boil.  Serve with rice.

Throw it in at the end

Notes:

- I've heard it's best to use 3 week old kimchi.  You want the kimchi to be nice and sour - it gives the soup a great flavor.  If you don't have old kimchi, you can use newer kimchi, but throw in a small spoon of vinegar.

- I've heard that beef broth works well instead of sardine broth, though I've never tried it.

- You can also throw in other things.  I've seen the thinly sliced ddeok used in ddeok guk, eoh mook (sea span) and enoki mushrooms all added to the pot.

* To make sardine broth, throw 7 small, headless dried sardines and a 10cm square sheet of dried kelp into 5 cups of boiling water for about 10 minutes then add 1 spoon cheong-ju (청주).  Strain the broth and you're ready to go! 

** Kimchi juice is, so far as I can tell, what's left in the bag/pot when you take out the head of cabbage.