Taco Soup
Naz Deravian
1267 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,267
1 hour 15 minutes
Kimchi Jjigae With Ribs
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1rack baby back ribs (about 1½ pounds), sliced into individual ribs
- 1(3-inch) piece ginger, scrubbed and cut into ½-inch slices
- 1tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1tablespoon gochugaru (see Tips), plus more to taste
- 4large garlic cloves, minced
- 2packed cups coarsely chopped ripe kimchi (about 1 pound), plus any accumulated juices
- Kosher salt
- 1medium yellow onion, halved and cut into ¼-inch slices
- 1tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1tablespoon maesil cheong (green plum syrup; see Tips), plus more to taste
- 1packed cup watercress, leaves and tender stems, for serving (from 1 small bunch; optional)
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
229 calories; 10 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 698 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Place the ribs and ginger in a large Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot and cover with cold tap water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook the ribs until they are no longer pink and gray foam collects at the surface, about 5 minutes. Drain the ribs in a colander and rinse under cold tap water. Discard the ginger. Rinse the pot out if it is especially dirty; place the empty pot back on the stove.
- Step 2
Melt the butter in the pot over low heat and add the gochugaru and garlic. Stir until aromatic, just a few seconds, watching carefully to avoid burning the gochugaru or garlic. Add the kimchi and 2 cups of water and stir to combine. Nestle in the cleaned ribs in a single layer and season the cooking liquid generously with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and gently boil until the kimchi starts to soften, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Step 3
Add the onion slices in a single layer over the ribs, tamping them down slightly to dampen them in the porky kimchi juices. Cover the pot again and continue gently boiling until the ribs are cooked through and the onions have released their juices and thinned out the broth slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. These ribs should tear off the bone easily but remain juicy and chewy; they aren’t meant to be fall-apart tender.
- Step 4
Turn off the heat and stir in the fish sauce and maesil cheong, adding more to taste. Season with a final pinch of gochugaru and salt if desired. Top the stew with the watercress, if using, and let it wilt slightly in the residual heat. Serve the pot of kimchi jjigae in the center of the table, family-style, with a ladle and bowls of fresh white rice and a plate for the bones.
Tips
- Gochugaru, or red pepper powder, is available online, at Korean or Asian supermarkets and at most grocery stores. It sometimes comes in larger bags, which is not a problem because it keeps in the freezer beautifully.
- You can find maesil cheong, or green plum syrup (also labeled an extract), online or in Korean or Asian supermarkets. Add a splash to a mug of hot water and drink it as tea, or mix it into salad dressings, marinades and stews as an aromatic sweetener with a touch of tartness.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Aidan
If you buy a bottle of maesol cheong, you WILL use it. Then you will buy another! It is a wonderful thing to keen nearby for use in everything from muchims to marinara! This is a lovely recipe, but I add 1 Tbsp. of gojujang - fermented red pepper paste - to my kimchi jiggae to deepen the red pepper flavor and to maximize the flavors which come with fermentation.
dimmerswitch
Gochugaru and kimchi are staples in our kitchen. Not so for green plum syrup. Not certain I wanted to source it give recipe takes only 1 TBSP (although we have a Korean market in town) I read a couple of food blogs by Korean cooks to see what might be substituted. Both similar to the info in the one linked here: https://kimchimari.com/green-plum-syrup-%EB%A7%A4%EC%8B%A4%EC%B2%AD-maesil-chung/
Jihae
This is pretty much a perfect recipe, except I did not “generously salt” my cooking liquid. I used a little kosher salt to sprinkle on top of the ribs, but the kimchi has a ton of salt already, and the fish sauce also has salt. I also added firm tofu and a ton of chopped green onion toward the end of cooking; I added the lighter white/green parts of the onion while the soup was still simmering, and then topped the soup off with the darker green parts at the end. Delicious. This Korean approves.
dimmerswitch
CarolB: You ask "What would you serve as a second side? I'm thinking crisp and maybe green to balance the rich intensity of the main." When I order this at a Korean restaurant it is served with white rice, as recommended by authors of this recipe. Given the watercress in this one you don't need to serve a green side. At our local Korean restaurant banchan starts the meal service.
Sarah
Towards the last few minutes, I usually add in some tofu (cut into 1" cubes or bigger), and sliced scallions just before serving. The watercress should be an interesting variation. If you have leftovers (unlikely), you have a great base for a quick budae jjigae. Some ramen, some more stock/water, some kind of processed meat, and a block of ramen. Maybe a slice of American cheese. Mmm.
Christine
I love how you said this dish is your beginning, middle and end. As a Korean American, I feel the same way. If I could choose one Korean dish no matter where I am in the world, this would be it.
JRTHiker
Not just Koreans, but Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian cuisines. It makes for a cleaner and clearer stock, soup, or sauce by removing the blood and bone chips. It's not as "rich" in the Western sense, but it's a much cleaner and less greasy taste. It's a different flavor than searing, which adds the Maillard effect components. Both methods of dealing with raw meat are equally good but give opposite results.
esm624
I made this as specified with one exception: I used leftover slow roasted ribs so I added them at Step 3 instead of doing the whole ribs process. Turned out well.
Josh
This is delicious. I think a splash of rice vinegar really helps to cut through the richness of the pork.
K Schrimmer
I have made this a few times and enjoy the simplicity combined with the full flavors. Of course I didn't have maesil but I did have some pomegranate molasses and ya know that worked really well. I will purchase some maesil in the future but sometimes you just have to make do.
aubrey
i use maesil cheong for this but if you have pomegranate molasses in the back of your pantry it should be a dead ringer here — just pay more attention to the acidity
aubrey
if you have pomegranate molasses in the pantry it is a slightly more astringent but almost perfect substitute for maesil cheong
Phil
The amount of flavor you can develop here in only 45 mins is amazing. Kimchi is truly a perfect food.
Renee
As someone who usually makes kimchi jjigae with pork belly, I LOVE this recipe. It’s an easy weeknight meal. Sauteeing aromatics in butter really takes the richness up a notch and love the addition of watercress. This recipe contains certain asian mom nuances —such as boiling the ribs with ginger to clean them and remove that porky gamey flavor— that really remind me of home. I did add sliced tofu at the end and it soaked up the soup in such a lovely way.
Gleaner
I couldn't find the green plum syrup so I mixed up some tamarind paste, apricot jam and black vinegar. Used homemade kimchi from the Momofuku recipe and wilted mustard greens with an onion in place of the watercress. It comes together quickly while the rice cooks if you boil the ribs the night before. Delicious.
Hangria
You can't mess up this stew, only build on it. My latest iteration had 2.25 lbs of pork ribs, a quart of anchovy stock from the freezer, a few big handfuls of bean sprouts (I didn't have watercress) and green onion batons. Still added the fish sauce even though I used anchovy stock, and more maesil cheong because I love it. Since my kimchi was not very salty and I was using more pork and more broth than the recipe called for, I did generously salt the stew with sea salt and simmered longer.
Debbie D
Substituted some agave syrup for the green plum syrup, as that was what I had on hand and this was not a good time to make a supermarket run. Very tasty and unfussy to put together. I'll certainly make this again.
Tom A
Sub ½ a tsp. of gochujang for every 1 tsp. of gochugaru
Brian
Made tonight per the recipe, with watercress, and even got maesil cheong from the local H-Mart, and just found this to be ....unremarkable. Kinda Korean flavored sorta spicy stew. But thanks for posting the recipe - we still like to try new things!
John B
I saw this and knew I had to try it, but after reading that Spam is a common protein ingredient - and after looking at the pack of cans I somehow bought at Costco - I decided to just substitute it for the ribs. You can chop it into cubes and pan-fry it some (with a bit of ginger) to improve the texture, then start at step 2 and go from there. It turned out wonderfully and I can see it becoming a regular go-to dish (with Spam or otherwise).
JoJoCampbell
I hate to give a bad review, but I found this underwhelming. I wanted to love this as it cooked, but for all the steps, the flavor was disappointing. Kimchi Chronicles cookbook is my usual Korean go-to, so perhaps my tastes are skewed by her take on Korean; however, I did live in Korea for 2 years. I'm no expert on Korean food, just a big fan, but this just didn't do it for me. I also felt the ribs did nothing for this dish as prepared. Pork is amazing, but this prep left much to be desired.
PoshGeek
So-so, but then I didn’t a) Add fish sauce (don’t like it) or b) Buy the expensive plum stuff. Had some hoisin, mixed that with a touch of balsamic and added along with “Umani” sauce — still not balanced. Kim Chee too vinegary, maybe rinse it. It had fish sauce and was a good brand (MIL). Look at other rcts!
Christine
I love how you said this dish is your beginning, middle and end. As a Korean American, I feel the same way. If I could choose one Korean dish no matter where I am in the world, this would be it.
Andrea
I cooked everything together. Much easier than multiple steps. I sautéed onions, ginger, spice and garlic. Then added kimchi, ribs and water and cooked for 45 minutes. Perfect, easy and delicious.
Private notes are only visible to you.
Advertisement
