Korea · 30 min · Meat · Main course · For beginners
Dubu Kimchi
In English: Tofu with Stir-fried Kimchi and Pork
For 4 servings · US units
Warm tofu slices with pork belly and sharply fried sour kimchi
Dubu kimchi is one of those Korean dishes where a handful of ingredients turn into something genuinely good in half an hour: mild, warm tofu next to properly sour kimchi that's been fried hard with pork belly. The contrast is the whole point — gentle against punchy, soft against crisp — and it works just as well on a Tuesday night as it does on a platter in the middle of the table. If you've got a jar of kimchi that's gone too sour to eat straight, this is the best possible use for it.
Ingredients
- 1⅛ lbTofufirm, boiled whole and sliced
- 14⅛ ozfully fermented and sour, cut into bite-size pieces, include the juiceLacto-fermented napa cabbage with chilli, garlic, ginger and usually fish sauce, sour, spicy and savoury.Substitute: There is no true substitute: sauerkraut with chilli flakes, garlic and a dash of fish sauce matches the sourness, but neither the depth of flavour nor the crisp bite. With some time to spare, making your own kimchi is the better route.Read more
- 10½ ozPork bellythinly sliced, pork shoulder works too
- 2Spring onionsliced
- 3 clovesGarlicminced
- 1 tbspSoy sauceto season the stir-fry
- 2 tspSugarbalances the sourness of the kimchi
- 1 tbspstirred in at the endDark oil pressed from toasted sesame seeds, with a strong, nutty, roasted aroma; usually added at the end in small amounts as a seasoning.Substitute: There is no real substitute, as no other oil carries the roasted aroma; at a pinch, a neutral oil with freshly pan-toasted, crushed sesame seeds helps, though the flavour stays clearly weaker.Read more
- 2 tspSesame seedstoasted, for sprinkling
- 1 tbspfor colour and heatKorean chili flakes made from sun-dried red chilies, ground coarse or fine. Bright red, fruity, mild to medium hot and slightly smoky.Substitute: The closest match is Aleppo pepper (pul biber) from a Turkish grocery, which is similarly fruity and mild but oilier, often salted and slightly tangier. In a pinch, mix sweet paprika with a little cayenne; this roughly matches colour and heat but not the fruitiness or texture. Ordinary crushed red pepper flakes are too hot to use in the usual quantities.Read more
- 1 tbspVegetable oilfor frying
- Black pepperground, to season the meat
- Waterfor simmering the tofu
- 2 tbspinstead of or in addition to the chili flakes (optional)Korean chili paste made from glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, chili powder and salt, thick, hot, salty and faintly sweet.Substitute: There is no real substitute, because the fermented depth and the sticky sweetness together carry the dish. As a stopgap, light miso paste stirred with Korean chili powder or other mild chili flakes and a little honey or sugar roughly matches the salt, heat and sweetness, but tastes flatter and less rounded. Chili sauces such as sriracha are too thin and too sour and change the dish noticeably.Read more
- 1Onionthinly sliced, fried along (optional)
- 2 tspGingergrated, for the meat marinade (optional)
- 1 tbspmirim, to take the smell off the meat (optional)A clear, mild wine made from fermented rice, used in Korean cooking mainly for marinades and to tame fishy smells.Substitute: Dry sherry or a dry white wine come closest, though they taste a little fruitier. If you use Japanese mirin the dish turns sweeter, so cut back slightly on the sugar in the recipe.Read more
- 1fresh, added at the end (optional)A fresh chili picked unripe, grassy and bright, ranging from mild to very hot depending on the variety.Substitute: For the mild variety, use long green peppers or mild green peppers such as Italian frying peppers; for the hot one, jalapeño or serrano. The fresh character stays the same, and you only need to adjust the amount for heat.Read more
Method
- Prep the ingredientsCut the kimchi and the pork belly into bite-size pieces, saving the kimchi juice as you go, slice the spring onions into rings or strips, and mince the garlic.
- Marinate the porkSeason the meat with some of the garlic, half the soy sauce, black pepper and half the Korean chili flakes and let it sit for a few minutes; add grated ginger and rice wine if you like.
- Warm the tofu gentlyBring a generous pot of water to the boil and let the whole block of tofu sit in it gently for 3 to 5 minutes — it only needs to heat through, so keep it below a rolling boil.
- Slice the tofuLift the tofu out carefully, let it drain, cut it into slices about 1 cm thick and keep them warm until you plate up.
- Sear the porkHeat the neutral oil in a pan over high heat and fry the meat until it's no longer pink; add the thinly sliced onion alongside if you're using it.
- Fry the kimchiAdd the kimchi along with its juice and fry for 3 to 5 minutes, until it's softened and most of the liquid has cooked off.
- Season until glossySeason with sugar, the remaining soy sauce, the remaining garlic and the remaining chili flakes and keep frying briefly until everything looks glossy.
- Finish with spring onions and sesameStir in the spring onions, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds, then take the pan off the heat straight away.
- Plate up and serveArrange the tofu slices on a platter, set the kimchi and pork in the middle or alongside, and serve while everything is still warm.
Tips and variations
Instead of chili flakes you can season with gochujang, or use both — that gives you a rounder, slightly sweeter heat. There's also a handy version where the meat, kimchi, onion, spring onion and seasonings all marinate together for 15 minutes and then go into the pan in one go; beef works just as well as pork here. To help the tofu hold its shape while it cooks, wrap it in a cloth; if you cook it in salted water, it can simply stay in the hot water until you're ready to plate. A fresh green chili and some spring onion added right at the end bring a bit of brightness. Best served straight from the pan while the tofu is still warm — everyone takes a slice and piles kimchi and pork on top.
Allergens
Contains: Cereals containing gluten, Sesame, Soybeans
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Sulphur dioxide and sulphites
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
