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!