My friend Guy posted this recipe on his facebook a few weeks ago, and I was real interested! Finally got around to it yesterday, and was pleased. The soup has a lot of flavor, with not so many ingredients.

You can (and I believe Guy did) leave out the pork, but if you keep it in, it’s cooked really nicely, and adds to the flavor. The only pork shoulder my supermarket had was 8 pound vacuum-packed hunks, so the guy at the meat counter and I settled on he’d cut me a 1/2 pound of pork belly. I might ask for 3/4 next time, since you lose some cutting off fat and bone.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chopped kimchi, including any liquid that runs off
• 1/2 pound of pork shoulder (or pork belly), cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons of chili paste (I used half that and it was plenty hot for us)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 5 cups of water
• 2 stalks of green onions, chopped
• 1 14 ounce package of tofu, cut into bite sized cubes
• cooked rice, for serving

May have been slightly easier to eat if I had cut the kimchi into tiny pieces, but, I mean, it said it was already sliced right on it! And boy am I lazy.

Combine the kimchi, pork, chili paste, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot.

Add the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil half an hour, then lower the heat to medium-low. (20 minutes in is a good time to get your rice on the stove!) Add the tofu, and cook another 10 minutes with the lid back on.

Add the green onions and remove from the heat.

Serve with some rice, which you can just toss straight in the bowl with the soup.

It’s warming, not only because it’s soup straight off the stove, but with the chili sauce and kimchi. Just be careful not to breathe on anyone for a while after you eat!

Kimchiguk

From Maangchi.

• 2 cups of chopped kimchi, including any liquid that runs off
• 1/2 pound of pork shoulder (or pork belly), cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons of chili paste
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 5 cups of water
• 2 stalks of green onions, chopped
• 1 14 ounce package of tofu, cut into bite sized cubes
• cooked rice, for serving

Combine the kimchi, pork, chili paste, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil half an hour, then lower the heat to medium-low, add the tofu, and cook another 10 minutes. Add the green onions and remove from the heat.

Serve with rice.