Kimchi Hot Pot
Dinner in 40 Minutes
- Cuisine: Korean
- Course: Main Course
- Features: Gluten-Free, Fast
Summary:
Debra Samuels stopped in last week and treated us to a quick meal that was a little outside our usual rotation. The new condiment we'll be keeping in our refrigerator is a jar of sour-spicy, fermented cabbage kimchi, preferably a brand manufactured by Rainbow Catering of Annandale and available at Grand Mart stores.
Samuels, 56, a student of Korean, Japanese and Italian cuisines, has been teaching cooking classes in her Lexington, Mass., home for 25 years and writes about food for the Boston Globe. "A jar of kimchi will last at least a month in the fridge," she says. "Add it to meats or a soup, and you have an instant meal."
Samuels appreciates Korean cuisine especially for its "enormously healthy and vegetable-heavy" qualities, so much so that she and her longtime friend Taekyung Chung have just published "The Korean Table," a 100-recipe collection of what she calls "starter" recipes. Their Kimchi Hot Pot (Kimchi Chigae), which Samuels made for us with very little prep work, is a classic dish (although it does not fall into that "healthy" category). It had a rich simmered flavor after only 30 minutes' cooking time. The fat and bones in the pork ribs provide extra flavor, and the tofu became infused with the liquid from the kimchi jar.
Serve with white rice on the side.
4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 pound bone-in country-style pork ribs (from the rib end of the pork loin, with a high percentage of "dark" meat and surface fat)
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 cups store-bought cabbage kimchi, plus 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid from the jar (see headnote)
- 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
- 2 1/2 cups water (may substitute low-sodium beef broth)
- 14 to 15 ounces firm tofu, drained
- 2 scallions
Directions:
Cut the rib meat into large chunks, making cuts between the bones (do not trim off the fat). Mince the garlic, then mash it with the flat side of a large knife to form a paste (about 2 teaspoons' worth). Coarsely chop the kimchi, reserving any liquid.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until it is hot, then add the pork and the garlic, then the kimchi, its liquid and the liquid from the jar to taste. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, so the pork is lightly browned on all sides. Add the water and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
While the hot pot is cooking, cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes. Trim off the root end of the scallions, then cut the remaining white and green parts (including the dark-green parts) into 2-inch pieces. Use the flat side of a large knife to slightly smash the white part of the scallions.
Add the cubes of tofu to the pan; cook for 10 minutes, stirring as needed and being careful not to break up the tofu (reduce the heat to low if necessary). The pork should be cooked through and have no trace of pink inside.
Just before serving, add the scallions. Serve family-style or divide among individual wide shallow bowls. Serve hot.
Leftover cooked rice freezes well, especially when it's stored in single-size portions: Place about 3/4 cup of the rice, while it is still warm, on a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap to create a palm-size "pillow," then place it in the freezer. The moisture from the warm rice keeps it from drying out. The rice pillows can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Recipe Source:
Adapted from "The Korean Table" (Tuttle, 2008).
E-mail the Food Section with recipe questions.
(James M. Thresher for The Washington Post)
