You may have heard of army stew in K-dramas and movies and wonder what it is. Well, it’s a Korean stew created in the early 1950s when food was scarce, so Koreans incorporated American processed food like spam and American cheese into their stew. And ever since then, it’s been a popular dish not only in Korea but the whole world. So, here is an army stew recipe for you and your ‘chingus’ to try out and get cosy over.
Meal: Lunch, Dinner Cuisine: Korean
Preparation time: Cooking time: Total time: Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the stock
1.89l of water
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
8 large, dried anchovies (remove the head and guts and put into a soup strainer)
Dried kelp
200g of pork belly or pork shoulder
5.7g of salt
For the seasoning
6 garlic cloves (minced)
20g of red pepper paste
10g of red pepper powder
5ml of soy sauce
4g of sugar
30ml of water
Toppings for the stew
Half a head of cabbage
Half a yellow onion (sliced)
Scallions
80g of kimchi (chopped)
115g of spam (sliced)
115g of cocktail sausage (sliced)
50g of Korean rice cakes
1 – 1/2 packets of tofu (sliced)
45g of canned baked beans
1 slice of American cheese
1 packet of instant ramen
Equipment
1 large pot with cover
1 shallow pot (10 to 12 inches)
1 large sieve
2 large bowls
2 small bowl
Directions
The Stock
Put the water, mushrooms, anchovies, and kelp in the large pot.
Cover and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes.
Then add the pork and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and remove the anchovies, mushrooms, and kelp.
Slice the mushrooms into bite sizes, and set aside in a small bowl for assembly.
Strain the stock with the large sieve into a large bowl
Then, place the pork into a small bowl and set aside for assembly.
Add salt into the stock and stir until dissolved.
The Seasoning
Mix the garlic cloves, red pepper paste, red pepper powder, soy sauce, sugar, and water in a large bowl. Mix well.
To Assemble
Place your cabbage, onion, scallions, sliced mushrooms, and cooked pork at the bottom of the pot.
Then add your chopped kimchi and seasoning paste.
Then top it with your spam, cocktail sausages, rice cakes, tofu, baked beans, and American cheese.
Add the instant ramen.
Lastly, add 715g of stock.
To Cook and Serve
Cook over medium to high heat.
Wait for it to boil for around 10 minutes then stir the ingredients.
Serve the instant ramen once cooked and softened.
Add more stock once the broth boils down.
How to Enjoy Army Stew
To further enjoy your army stew, you can choose to omit or substitute the toppings! For instance, you can add in bacon or ham. And if you’re too busy, you can opt for store-bought broth instead of making your own.
Here’s an important tip! Use old kimchi: the older, the more flavourful.
Army stew is usually served on a portable burner, and everyone would sit around it, like Korean barbeque or hot pot. Like these other dishes, you can add more toppings as they’re being served.
Missing some ingredients?
It’s time to try out this army stew recipe, call on some ‘chingus’ and sit around a pot of army stew! If work’s got you too occupied to make a trip to the supermarket, then visit pandamart and have your army stew ingredients - canned beans, spam, instant ramen delivered to your doorstep.
