Kimchi Jjigae, Pork Belly and Perilla Leaves (Easy Recipes For Beginners)

Clockwise from left: Kimchi Jjigae, Perilla Leaves, Grilled Pork Belly, Rice, Fried Sweet Potato Slices and Kimchi 

My family and I love Korean food. In fact I think most Indonesians who live in Melbourne love eating Korean food. When I arrived in Melbourne as a student in 2001, I often went out to Korean restaurants with my classmates and family for lunch and dinner.  One of my favourite Korean restaurants in Melbourne city was Seoul House. We often ordered Korean BBQ beef bulgogi, pork bulgalbi (pork ribs) and also seafood stew called Jjampong. The meat were barbecued on the table, and we always left the restaurant feeling full with our clothing smelling like smoke and meat.

Fast forward to 2017, I often find myself at home with a one year old baby and a 4 year old at home, craving Korean food badly. I am the only one at home who loves eating Kimchi and Kimchi stew. I tried ordering kimchi stew (Kimchi Jjigae) from Korean restaurants but the portion was always too big, and the soup was often too spicy with little pork. 

Thankfully I learned how to make basic Kimchi Jigae at home. I make my Kimchi stew without the chilly flakes so that it's more friendly to my tummy. I'm so happy to start learning how to cook Korean food. So far I have cooked kimchi jjigae five times with this recipe.

I just bought Maangchi Korean cooking book https://www.maangchi.com/real, she is really the queen of Korean cooking on Youtube and print. 

If you're a Korean food lover like me, I highly recommend stocking a tub of Kimchi and Gochujang at home. With these two ingredients, you can whip up a kimchi stew or bibimbap with whatever meat you have in the fridge quickly.

Beginner's Kimchi Jigae
Serves 2 

This is a very easy recipe I use to make my version of Kimchi Jigae. Please note that I am a complete beginner in Korean cooking and I am not Korean! However if you're looking for an easy & quick Korean food fix at home and you don't like too spicy food, you might like my version of the kimchi stew.


Ingredients:
- Store bought Kimchi
- Firm Tofu
- Sliced pork belly (1 big strip of boneless pork belly)
- Gochujang (Korean Red Pepper Paste)
- Salt reduced chicken stock

Method:
  1. In a small pot place a good amount of kimchi (as you like), top it with the sliced pork belly and one table spoon of Gochujang.
  2. Fill the pot with the chicken stock just enough to cover the pork belly.
  3. Let the stock boil and mix well.
  4. Top with Firm tofu and mix well.
  5. That's it. Enjoy your kimchi stew.


Grilled Pork Belly With Perilla Leaves
Serves 2

We basically have to grill the pork belly until the meat is cooked. That's it. Easy cooking isn't it.

Grilled pork belly and kimchi wrapped in perilla leaves


Ingredients:
- Pork Belly strips (as much as you like)
- Perilla Leaves (I was able to buy perilla leaves from the local Korean Supermarket, if you can't find this leaf you can get some lettuce)

Sauce:
- Sesame oil and salt
- Ssamjang (My instagram friend @me.chung recommended Ssamjang for this dish)

Method:

  1. Heat a grill pan on high heat, grease the pan with oil. Grill one side of the Pork Belly Strips on high heat for a few minutes, turn and grill the other side on high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and cook one side. After a few minutes turn and cook the other side of the meat until thoroughly cooked.
  2. Cut the grilled pork belly into bite size portions.
  3. Eat the pork belly with one of the recommended sauces, wrapped in a perilla leaves



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