Budae Chigae used to be one of my all time favorite things to order at a local Korean bar. I genuinely believe that Korean bars make the most delicious Korean food. The BEST kimchi chigae, the BEST tteokbokki, and the BEST budae chigae.
For me, the challenge was trying to come up with a way to recreate the spicy, salty, umami packed broth, and I decided to just blend up a bunch of spices in my spice rack. Of course, if you’re not a snob, you can also just use the spice packet that comes with the ramen noodles we add at the end, lol. But, tbh, some ppl are not comfortable using a spice packet without really knowing what’s in them, so that’s why I came up with my own! And I’m pretty darn proud of it!
Budae Chigae is known to be meat heavy. I threw in some Field Roast sausage for that part. Anyway, it’s pretty spicy, so make sure to have a glass of water handy when you eat this. Also, you should probably eat it with rice (that’s how we ate it).
Budae Chigae
Ingredients
Spice Blend
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp gochugaru
- 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp mushroom powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp kelp powder
Stew
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 2 scallions, cut into 2-inch length pieces
- 1/2 zucchini, sliced
- 1/2 cup julienned cabbage
- 1/2 carrot, sliced
- 1 sausage, sliced
- 1/2 cup ricecakes (tubes)
- 3 to 4 frozen dumplings
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 cup kimchi
- 2 tbsp kimchi juice
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 2 cups water
- 1 packet ramen noodles
- 1 16 oz box tofu
Gyerranmari
- 3/4 cup JUSTEgg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 slice cheese
- 1 sheet nori, divided in half
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Make the Gyerranmari: Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a small pan over medium-high heat. Pour in 1/2 cup of liquid egg replacer. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sat. Add 1/3 to 1/2 slice of cheese, followed by 1/2 sheet of nori. When egg is halfway cooked, roll the egg up like a crepe. Add 1/4 cup of liquid egg replacer and repeat.
- Mix together the spice blend.
- Add olive oil and sesame oil to a very large and deep pan, over medium heat. Add the spice blend and begin stirring immediately for 1 minute, to allow them to bloom (but not burn!).
- Arrange all of the vegetables, rice cakes, and dumplings. Add kimchi, kimchi juice, gochujang. Deglace with soy sauce and and add water.
- Add tofu and ramen noodles. Stir the contents of the pan, so that the noodles are submerged.
- Add sliced Gyerranmari to the top of the chigae and cook until the noodles are fully cooked.
- Serve with rice.