Kimchi jjigae is Korea's most-loved comfort food — a bubbling, brick-red stew of well-aged kimchi, pork belly and silky tofu that's spicy, sour and deeply savoury all at once. It's the dish Koreans crave on a cold night, and one taste tells you why.
The best jjigae is made with older, properly sour kimchi — the funkier the better, so this is the perfect home for that jar that's been sitting in the back of the fridge. Frying the kimchi in the pork fat first is the step that builds all the flavour.
It comes together in one pot in about half an hour, and all you need alongside is a bowl of steamed rice to spoon it over.
