Vegetarian budae jjigae (army stew) is a fusion dish comprising of processed American foods and traditional Korean ingredients. This spicy and comforting gochujang based stew is usually shared with friends and family.
What is Korean army stew made of?
Chiefly, army stew is a mixture of noodles, vegetables and meats combined with a gochujang based sauce and broth.
Generally, Korean army stew will contain a lot of meat. Specifically this includes spam, fish cakes, hot dogs or beef. Other common ingredients are rice cakes, instant noodles, udon, tofu, mushrooms, kimchi and processed American cheese.
I have recently visited Korea. Most restaurants serving army stew will have a wide selection of ingredients to choose from. This dish is usually served over a gas cooker in the centre of the table. It is a great dish to share with friends.
Vegetarian budae jjigae (army stew): ingredients
One of my favourite ingredients in budae jjigae are the rice cakes or tteokbokki. Rice cakes are made of rice flour and tapioca starch. This creates deliciously chewy rice cakes which taste delicious with the spicy broth.
If you like rice cakes as much as I do you can make spicy rice cakes on their own! Why not try out this recipe from The Korean Vegan.
Kimchi, which is often an ingredient in army stew, is a very popular Korean side dish, or banchan. Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage. It, surprisingly, has many health benefits.
Fermented foods are extremely beneficial for your gut health. Improved gut health has many positive effects. This includes a strengthened immune system, more effective digestion, and reduced inflammation.
There is a range of noodles you could add to budae jjigae. Instant noodles are a very popular and cheap option. When using instant noodles, ensure you add them nearer the end of cooking so they don’t get too soft.
Another popular noodle to add are udon noodles. These are thick and chewy. If you don’t have access to rice cakes then udon noodles are a great alternative.
There are a few more ingredients you could throw into your stew. I recommend baked beans, Napa cabbage or soybean sprouts. You could also add a dash of sesame oil into your stew, if you like.
Why is it called Korean army stew?
Army stew was originally made using American foods taken from US military bases after the Korean war. This is where the name army stew comes from.
How to make budae jjigae (army stew) vegetarian?
I love Korean food but since going vegetarian I’ve found it difficult to find Korean foods I can still eat! Many Korean foods use meat or fish stock. Furthermore, many of the most popular Korean meals are very meat-centric. Popular dishes include Korean bbq, Korean fried chicken and Korean short ribs.
This vegetarian Korean army stew recipe means I don’t have to miss out! I chose to include kimchi, tofu, mushrooms, rice cakes, instant ramen and cheese in my vegetarian version.
Traditional army stew is made using chicken or anchovy stock. I simply replaced this with vegetable stock.
Furthermore, you need to ensure you buy vegan kimchi as kimchi usually contains fish products. Vegan kimchi, however, is increasingly easy to buy. Despite the lack of meat there is still enough variation to make every mouthful unique.
The gochujang sauce is already usually vegetarian, and often vegan, making my version of this dish 100% veggie-friendly.
Vegan meat in army stew
Personally, I think this stew is delicious enough without having any vegan meat alternatives in it. Without these there are still five different components to the dish which I think is variety enough.
However, if you like vegan meats then they still make great additions to this dish. Spam is usually added to army stew (budae jjigae). This is now available in a plant-based form. The brand omnipork makes a plant-based luncheon meat substitute.
As well as this, you could add in vegan hot dogs. You could add Moving Mountains plant-based hot dogs if you like.
Simply remove the cheese, or replace with a slice of vegan cheddar or mozzarella, and your dish is vegan!
Where can I buy the ingredients for army stew?
Making this dish requires some specialist ingredients. Asian supermarkets across the U.K., however, widely stock these.
Enoki mushrooms are the best for this dish. Asian supermarkets are, usually, the only places which stock these.
Mainstream supermarkets, however, often stock items such as gochujang and kimchi. If you cannot find these ingredients near you I recommend looking online. I find Starry Mart stocks a lot of great products.
Vegetarian budae jjigae (army stew): Similar recipes
Try out my other Korean recipes:
- Vegetarian tofu kimbap
- Speedy vegetarian japchae
- Kimchi and cheese Korean dumplings
- Spicy noodle spring rolls
- Vegetarian kimchi fried rice
Korean army stew (budae jjigae)
Ingredients
Method
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, set aside
- In a large frying pan add the mushrooms, tofu, rice cakes, kimchi and veggie hotdogs/spam (if using) into separate corners of the pan
- Pour in your sauce into the middle of the pan
- Pour in the vegetable stock from the edge
- Cover the pan and heat on a medium heat until the pan is boiling. Once boiling cook for a further 2-5 minutes, or until the rice cakes are beginning to soften and the mushrooms are almost cooked
- Add in the noodles into the middle of the pan and top with the cheese. Sprinkle over the spring onion
- Continue to boil until the noodles are just cooked, 2-5 minutes
Delicious, full of flavour. Really fun recipe 🙂
10/10 really liked this – not too spicy for me
Glad you enjoyed!
Spicy and delicious