Recipe: Korean Spicy Tofu Soup Stew! (Soon Du Bu)

Hey, I'm back!!! Realized when I saw my blog stats that my previous dduk bok gi post has been the most viewed post in this blog, so i figured I'll post another recipe! These few days I have been very health conscious and motivated on my diet ever since I've been eating crazily outside when my parents were visiting. So, I've been trying on several recipes to cook at home! Save time, save money and save calories/fats. Furthermore, I've been watching Family Outing n Running Man recently, and I'm always drooling at the food they cook, plus I've mentioned that all Korean food share the same basic ingredients, so I might as well just make use of those ingredients I've already had and start cooking different food!

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!

Recipe: My own version of Dduk Bok Gi

With the recent craze of k-pop, k-drama, etc, my taste buds are in a k-food frenzy. I love spicy food to the max and when I'm lazy to go out I'll just cook this easy but yummy korean spicy rice cake, dduk bok gi. This dish is excellent especially on a cold and rainy night, and it will only take you 30 mins to the max! Everyone has their own version of dduk bok gi, based on their own taste preferences and what you put in (other than the rice cakes), so here is mine! :)

 

What you'll need*

*Remember that you can put in anything you like. I put in the spam and sausage because I happen to have them in the fridge.

-Korean rice cakes (u can buy either fresh or packaged ones)

-Go chu jjang (korean spicy red pepper paste)

-Fish cakes (i used the square ones this time)

-Korean red pepper powder

-Soy sauce (I used the korean Gook Gan Jang, which is soy sauce for soup base, but honestly all soy sauce works fine)

-Minced garlic

-Dried Kelp for soup base

-Anchovy soup base (it'll be better if u use dried anchovies but unfortunately I don't have them this time round)

-Kimchee (optional)

-Sugar

So first I put my rice cakes in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. I had to do this because my rice cakes are packaged, and not those fresh ones. You don't have to do this if you use fresh rice cakes.

Next, prepare you soup base by putting in a few pieces of kelp, a little bit of anchovy stock powder, and a piece of fish cake. Boil for 10 minutes. (note that I don't usually use exact measurements, but i estimated them roughly based on how much water I use)

After 10 minutes, take out the kelp and the fish cake from the soup.

Add 3 tablespoon of red pepper paste (1 or 2 if you don't like spicy), 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar (more if you like sweet), 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of chili powder (skip this if you can't stand spiciness). Now put in your kimchee (a few pieces is sufficient), rice cakes and spam. Boil for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the fish cakes into small strips.

This is what it should look like after 5 minutes of boiling.

After 10 minutes

15 minutes!! Ta-da!!

Now it's ready to serve!!

The rice cake should be chewy, and taste according to your preference of spiciness and sweetness. Note that if you can't finish your whole pot of dduk bok gi, which happens to me all the time, you can store them in a container in the fridge. When you want to eat it later on, add a little water and boil them again. When I was visiting Korea, I see the ahjummas in Seoul stirring the dduk bok gi non stop, adding water whenever it gets dry.

Most korean food have the same key ingredients, and that's how I became a Korean food addict these past days because my kitchen is full of Korean ingredients. The most basic ingredient for most Korean dishes, such as soon tofu, gam ja tang, etc, are this amazing red pepper paste. 

Keep this in your kitchen and you'll find yourself cooking all sort of Korean dishes. 

That's it for today! Lack of restaurant reviews as I'm on a strict diet, and so that explains the home cooking :)