Jump to Recipe: Vegan Soondubu Jjigae

good soup

I’ve had a head cold for the past 8 days (it’s not covid), and for the last half of that time, I’ve completely lacked a sense of taste or smell. It’s depressing. It’s eye-opening. I’ve realized just how much joy and comfort I get from food, and it’s a lot, and without it, I’m not sure where exactly to get my kicks.

In an effort to blast my sinuses with both culinary heat and hot, hot soup, I whipped up a batch of vegan soondubu jjigae, a soft tofu and kimchi soup of Korean origin. Typically, soondubu jjigae is loaded with seafood and other animal protein, but I’m really in it for those jiggly lobes of soft tofu and the spiky fermented magic of tofu, so I opted to leave the meat and seafood out. Instead, I added a big blob of miso paste and a mushroom-rich vegetable stock so no one missed out on the stew’s characteristic umami.

Vegan Soondubu Jjigae

(inspired by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for Serious Eats)

Ingredients

1 glug vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 scallions, sliced

2 cups Sunja’s Medium Spicy Cabbage Kimchi (it’s vegan!), chopped, juice reserved

1 tablespoon miso

2 tablespoons gochujang

1 quart vegetable stock

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 lb soft tofu

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

Heat a sauce pan with a glug of vegetable oil on high. Add garlic, scallion whites, and chopped kimchi, and heat until fragrant (or, if you have a head cold and can’t smell, it’s about a minute).

Add miso paste and gochuchang, and stir to combine. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, and kimchi juice, and bring to a simmer. Crumble in soft tofu, and heat through. Garnish with scallion greens and sesame seeds, and serve HOT HOT HOT.