Budae Jjigae, or base stew, is a brilliant concoction of both Korean and American elements. Legend has it that this dish was made from the scraps left over by the American soldiers during the Korean war. American foods such as sausages, baked beans, and spaghetti noodles were picked up by the Koreans and incorporated into their own cuisine and tada~a tasty stew was formed!
K and I often make this dish at home, and we are proud to say that we are pretty satisfied with our jjigae. It’s a fantastic dish for a group of people/family/party and it really hits the spot when you’re craving something flavorful and spicy. Mmmmm! Let’s get started!
What You Need:
-
1 can of chicken broth
-
1 can of beef broth
-
1/3 small onion
-
2 cloves garlic minced
-
3 bulbs of green onion
-
1 large or 2 small zucchini
-
1 jalapeno pepper
-
3 tablespoons of baked beans/pork and beans
-
2 Frank sausages
-
1 small can of spam
-
1 slice of American/Velveeta cheese
-
firm tofu
-
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
-
2 tablespoons of korean red pepper flakes
-
2/3 cup of well fermented kimchi
-
salt and pepper
-
uncooked ramen
*Note: this is a lot of ingredients, however, do not fear, this is the only hard part of this dish. Also, instead of the normal korean ingredients used to make a broth (ie. dried anchovies and dashida), we decided to use chicken and beef broth to make it more easier…we think it actually tastes better this way too! 
What to Do:
First we have to prep the foods. Slice the veggies as pictured. Slice the tofu and spam into small thin rectangular pieces. Slice the sausages into thin slices as well.
Next, let’s make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine the red pepper flakes, soy sauce, and minced garlic and mix!
Now guess what? We are done!..well almost! All we have to do now is to make a pretty presentation and boil away! If you have a portable grill, this makes a lovely presentation in the middle of the dining room table. We put the kimchi in the middle, and surrounded it with the rest of the veggies, meat, beans, cheese, etc. We topped the kimchi with the sauce and wa la~beautiful presentation.
Now, over medium-high heat, pour in the broths.
Bring to a boil and stir. Boil the stew for about 5-7 minutes after over medium heat. Taste, and season with salt and pepper if needed. About 3 minutes prior to serving, add in the ramen and boil. We like our ramen semi done, so when it reaches that stage, go ahead and ENJOY with rice!!! Oh! This recipe is about 4-5 servings. So, what we did was ladle some of the stew into another pot and top that with 1/2 ramen. We did this so that we could enjoy the stew again tomorrow with new ramen (otherwise, we would have end up with leftover stew with bloated ramen noodles tomorrow).
ENJOY!
Hi there!
Thanks for visiting my blog; quick question: have we met before?
OMG! I LOVE Budae Jjigae! Spam and instant noodle, how can you not love it? I gotta try this at home to impress my Korean man. haha.. Thanks for sharing the recipe! ^^
Hi Pearl,
I don’t think we’ve met before. Possibly?
Hi Eileen,
Cool! Hope it turns out well for you and your MAN!
wow this looks great.
Oh okay – well may I add you to my blogroll? I love seeing the dishes you create!
Sure of course Pearl!
“army” base soup provides more clarity in the name, no? Wikipedia says budae jigae is also called Johnson Tang, spelled phonetically in Hangul, but I’ve never seen it referred to as such in Ktown…
Hi SinoSoul!
‘Army’ may more sense to use because the dish supposedly originated from an army base back in the days. However, ‘budae’ translates into unit/camp/military and that is why we did not specifically put ‘army’ in front–we just took a literal translation of it. I grew up right next to the army base in Itaewon (my father is a civ working for U.S. Army) and also currently reside very close to Ktown in LA…I have NEVER heard it referred to as “Johnson Tang.” I would assume Johnson was a name of an AMerican soldier and ‘tang’ is just soup/stew. So, there you go. I would just stick to calling it budae jjigae.
Thanks for stopping by!!
Hi tastymealsathome, many thanks for visiting my blog and I do hope you will become a regular visitor
SO nice to *meet* you too!
WOW you have a lovely site and your Budae Jjigaelooks so colourful and I love spam – I have two cans in store now!
That jjigae looks really tasty!
Hi! This fusion dish looks so appetizing! I hope Korean restaurants have this. Btw, Thanks for the recipe.:)
Wow, what a combination! It looks fantastic with the chiles and spice mixture!
looks really good and I’ve always liked kimchi and spicy food. Thanks for visiting me =)
Thanks for checking out our blog! Michael never wants to try tofu recipes, but I love them – maybe I can lure him one of these days
The stew must be so tasty
Nice job on the dish. I saw the Spam.. you guys from Hawaii?
Wow. This stew is filled with great stuff and good flavors. I am sure it tasted great!
I love your blog too! I’ll be sure to add you to my Reader.
Wow, such a wonderful combination of goodies. Great photos, too.
Mmmm… I am definitely making this soon!! Thanks for the recipe!
That soup is looking really tasty!
Its funny that I thinking mabee I would make this tonight, now I will make this tonight!
Johnson in the name is a reference to Lyndon B. Johnson.
Pingback: Korean Budae Jigae (Army Base Soup)
This is so awesome. I wish I could go back to korea to the place I had Budae JJigae for the first time. I’m going to use this sometime soon. Unfortunately my wife does not like korean food other Bulgogi. Maybe I’ll will make for my friends someday. Thanks for the recipe
Hi Josh!
Hope you like the dish!
Thank you for your kind comment!