Kimchi Jjigae

Ingredients

• 400 g pork belly, cut into 3cm chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 600 ml pork or chicken stock
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp gochugaru, Korean chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp doenjang or white miso
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 400 g well-fermented kimchi, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp kimchi juice
• 300 g firm tofu, cut into 2cm cubes
• steamed white rice, to serve
• 3 spring onions, sliced, to serve
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Pat the pork belly dry and season generously with salt and pepper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
2. Add the pork belly in a single layer — don't crowd the pot, work in two batches if you need to. Fry for 5–6 minutes, turning, until the fat has rendered and the edges are deeply browned and stuck to the base. Those brown bits are flavour; you want them.
3. Drop the heat to medium and add the sliced onion. Cook for 3 minutes, scraping the fond up off the base as the onion softens and releases its water.
4. Stir in the garlic and gochugaru and cook for just 30 seconds until fragrant and the chilli has bloomed pale red into the fat. Watch it — burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter, and raw gochugaru tastes dusty rather than smoky.
5. Add the chopped kimchi and kimchi juice. Stir-fry hard with the pork for 3 minutes until the kimchi softens, the edges start to caramelise, and the smell shifts from sharp and sour to deep and savoury.
6. Pour in the stock and stir in the doenjang or miso until fully dissolved — the stock is what carries the kimchi's funk into a proper broth rather than a paste clinging to the pork. Bring to the boil, then drop to a gentle simmer for 20 minutes, until the pork is tender and the broth has turned a deep, glossy red.
7. Taste the broth now. Most of the salt comes from the kimchi and doenjang, but it usually wants a final pinch to tie it together — adjust now, not at the table.
8. Lower in the tofu cubes and simmer for a further 5 minutes, just to warm through and let them drink up the broth. Drizzle in the sesame oil and stir gently so the tofu stays intact.
9. Ladle over steamed white rice in deep bowls, scatter generously with the sliced spring onions, and serve immediately while the broth is still bubbling at the edge.