Description:

You possibly will not believe this, but actually, this recipe comes from Korean comfort food, kimchi stew (Kimchi Jjigae). If you like tuna kimchi stew, you definitely had some experience that all the tuna was shattered into the stew, and it was very hard to find a chuck of tuna in the stew. When I thought of this recipe, I just wanted to twist a bolognese recipe by using kimchi. However, then, the sauce was much similar with the taste of army stew (Budae Jjigae), and it was too heavy and hid the fresh flavor of kimchi. Thus, I remember the taste of tuna kimchi stew, and I found that actually tuna was better than meat. Solving the ‘tuna kimchi stew problem’ was not intentional, but I really liked the outcome.

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

• 0.5 lb of well-fermented¹ napa cabbage kimchi, minced or finely chopped
• Approx. 0.5 lb of canned tuna in oil (2 of 5 oz cans; oil drained)
• 2 strips of thick-cut bacon, sliced
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 oz of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of rice wine or white wine
• 1/2 cup of water
• A pinch of MSG
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp of fine Korean chili powder or parika
• Some of dried thyme and oregano
• Some of Tabasco hot sauce
• (optional) Some of dried chili pepper flakes (for more spiciness)
• Some of salt and black pepper

How to cook:

1. In a saute pan, drizzle olive oil, melt butter, and stir-fry the bacon dices on medium heat. Cook bacon until fat melts enough and becomes nice brown color.
2. Put drained tuna, chopped onion and green onions. Stir well for about 10 minutes so that all the ingredients become soft and some excess water can evaporate.
3. Pour wine into the pan. Turn up the heat to high and evaporate alcohol.
4. Add minced (or chopped) kimchi into the pan, and add the water and a pinch of MSG.
5. Reduce the heat to very low. Add spices including bay leaves, chili powder, dried thyme and oregano. Add 8 dashes of Tabasco hot sauce. You can also add some dried chili pepper if you want spicier sauce. Stir well.
6. Begin simmering on very low heat for about 1 hour,
7. After 1 hour, check the taste, and add salt and black pepper if necessary.
8. Enjoy with pasta!

1. The kimchi must be sour and tangy! ↩︎