Healthy Vegan - vegan Korean Kimchi Jjigae Stew

For those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen me post this Kimchi Jjigae aka Kimchi Stew which I made last weekend, I have been to busy with Vegan Month of Food and work that I had not got round to sharing it on my blog, so here it it now.  

This  Kimchi Jjigae is not authentic by any means, but these days on blogosphere and cookbooks do you see many authentic recipes, everyone has their twist on Shepherds Pie to Bread Pudding, even the fillings of traditional British Christmas mince pies are given a makeover. This is not so much as a twist, more of an adaptation to make it suitable my vegetarian diet and in an effort to make it vegetarian, it is also  accidentally vegan.  
The photograph is not the best as it is tinged with poor lighting issues,  The evening s are getting darker and I live in the Welsh valleys between two hills, so the darkness impacts on my photographs even more so come Autumn and Winter.   Anyway, I wanted to find ways of using my homemade vegan Kimchi that I made a couple of months back.  It was my first attempt at making Kimchi at home, and although not perfect, I was pleased with myself.  I hope to make another batch soon and hopefully it will be a lot more redder in colour.

Kimchi like any fermented food is an acquired taste.  I quite like it, but it is not to every ones taste like sweets from the Indian subcontinent or pickles steeped in mustard oil. This includes my husband.  
D was not keen on either the Kimchi or the Kimchi Stew, but I was not surprised at that.  The first time we had Kimchi at home was back in 2011 and I made a Bibimpab.  He did not particularly enjoy the Bibimbap then and nor the Kimchi Jjigae this time round either, but ate it nonetheless.  

However, I enjoyed it, but if I am totally honest I think the sauce lacked body.  I think this was partly to do with my homemade vegan version of the Kimchi; and my adaptation of the Kimchi Jjigae recipe.  My version required something to thicken it up .  The original recipe has anchovies, and pork, that perhaps give it a depth.  The spices were just right.   I served the Kimchi Jjigae simply with plain white rice.   I am sharing this with  I am sharing this   and with Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition.




Vegan Kimchi Jjigae Stew
Serves 4
Ingredients
400grams kimchi , if chunky roughly chop
1 pint vegetable stock
2 tablespoons sesame oil
4 large spring onions, sliced (keep some of the green part back for topping/garnish
100grams white radish aka daikon or small radishes, sliced

Salt to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons of gochugaru (Korean hot chilli pepper flakes)
1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
Optional: 2 g sea vegetables, rehydrated

1 x packet of tofu, sliced into bite size pieces
Method
Place the chopped spring onions, radish, kimchi including some of its brine in a pot, soil and stock, then cook on medium high heat for 10 minutes, 
Then stir in the spices, sea vegetables and seasoning before carefully laying over the tofu on top.
Then cook for further 10 - 15 minutes. 
Remove from the heat and serve immediately with plain white rice.
Adapted from Maangchi and Kimchi Chronicles and Beyond Kimchi.

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