This time, it's my all-time Korean food favorite: Spicy Tofu Soup!! This food is relatively quick and simple to make, plus you can use any ingredients you want to alter the taste to your own preference. Like in Tofu restaurants, they have almost 10 options, including beef, seafood, combination, vegetarian, dumpling, sausage, etc. This dish is also spicy, and you can make it mild to very spicy by adjusting the amount of chili paste and chili powder you put in. If you can't eat spicy at all, I'll post an alternative basic ingredient at the bottom of this post. So here it is, enjoy!!
What I used:
-Extra soft tofu
-Mushrooms or other vegetables
-Konbu (dried kelp)
-Anchovies or seafood soup base
-Clams/Shrimp
-Salted shrimp
-Cooking oil
-Minced garlic
-Minced beef
-Jalapeno/green peppers
-Soy sauce for soup
-Korean hot pepper paste
-Korean chili powder
-Green onions
-Kimchi
-Egg
First, start with boiling 2 cups of water in a pot and add in mushrooms, dried kelp and seafood soup base. I use shitake mushrooms here but you can use any mushroom or any other vegetables you like.
I use this seafood soup base just because it is quick, easy and tastes great. But an alternative way would be to use dried anchovies and boil them together with the soup instead of the base.
After you boil the soup for 10-15 mins, pour the soup into a bowl and set it aside. Take the mushrooms out and slide them into pieces. Now, pour a little oil into a pot and add in minced beef, minced garlic, chopped kimchi, chopped green chili/jalapeno (for extra spiciness), salted shrimp and stir fry.
The Kimchi help to add flavor to the soup and the salted shrimp gives it a seafood boost. You can, of course, skip these two but they'll really help to give extra flavors.
I also add in a teaspoon of soup base soy sauce to add an extra flavor to the minced beef. This soy sauce is different from the normal type as this is specially made for soup base, which is less salty.
Next, pour approximately a cup or less of the soup that you have prepared at the beginning. Add clams or shrimp or other seafood you like. You can start with less than a cup, gradually adding water if it is not enough. Remember not to put too much water, as tofu will release water on its own, and the soup would not taste good if it is too watery. Add in 1 tablespoon of Korean spicy paste and 3 tablespoon of Korean chili powder. *this will make the soup medium-very spicy, please adjust according to your taste preference.
Now is finally the time to put the tofu in. Put 1 pack of extra soft tofu into the stew, breaking them up inside the pot by using a spoon. Be careful not to break them up too much as the tofu is very soft, use separate them into large chunks and they'll break up on their own.Boil for about 5 minutes.
Now add the sliced mushrooms and chopped green onions into the soup and mix in carefully.
Finally, the last step is to add an egg into the stew. This step is optional. Now it's time to serve! :)
Enjoy your tofu stew warm with a bowl of rice!!
I mentioned before that for those who cannot eat spicy food at all, you can still enjoy this great tasting and healthy dish by using a soybean paste soup base instead of chili paste and chili powder. The soup would still taste as great!
