Last night I made Korean Soft Tofu and Kimchi Soup (Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae) from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

This recipe was confusing, because it had two errors that had to be puzzled through. First, the introduction says “This version features chunks of daikon radish, mushrooms, scallions, and soft tofu in a dashi-style broth.” However, daikon and mushrooms are omitted from the ingredients and the instructions except in step 3 where it says “cook until the daikon is tender.” Second, the ingredients call for “6 scallions, cut into 1-inch segments.” Step 2 instructs to “Add the scallions, garlic, and chopped kimchi…,” and then later, in step 4 says, “Add the tofu and scallion greens….”

His Note on the recipe says

Other good additions are several ounces of daikon radish cut into small cubes, whole enoki or beech mushrooms, cockles, clams, or shrimp. Any additions should be added with the dashi in step 3 and simmered just until cooked through (about 15 minutes for radish or 2 to 3 minutes for mushrooms and shellfish).

Kenji recently did a video on soondubu jjigae. Consulting that, his recipe on Serious Eats, and the recipe Note, I used about 6 oz of cubed daikon, 3 or 4 oz of shimeji/beech mushrooms and added them with the dashi. I separated out the scallion greens and added the whites in step 2 and the greens in step 4.

With all of the sleuthing out of the way, the first step is squeezing the liquid out of kimchi into a bowl and chopping the kimchi.

The scallion (whites!), garlic, and chopped kimchi are quickly stir-fried in a bit of oil. Then he kimchi juice, some soy sauce, and gochujang are added and cooked until everything’s coated.

Gochugaru and dashi are added, and this is when I added the daikon and mushrooms. The soup is simmered until the daikon is tender.

The namesake soon tofu and scallion greens (!) are added and brought back to boiling. The soondubu tofu is an “extra-soft” Korean tofu. I found it in tubes at Super H-Mart. In the video, Kenji slices the tubes in half, slips them into the soup, and breaks them into large chunks. That’s what I did.

Finally eggs (one per serving) are cracked directly into the broth and poached. Megan and I were the only ones eating it last night, so I did two eggs.

I ladled the soup into a couple of bowls, making sure to get an egg in each and some big tofu chunks. It was both heat hot and spicy hot. I found the large chunks of extra-soft tofu to have be satisfying to eat. They have no resistance and dissolved with the broth in my mouth. I thought it was good, but would cut back on the spiciness next time. Megan did not like it. We think she doesn’t like Korean food, or at least not kimchi and gochujang.

Given the kids definitely won’t eat this, I don’t see myself making this again.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.