Soondubu meal prep - How to cook it under 10 minutes

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*This recipe was done in our first years of filming. We have made an updated version of it - smaller portion size and tweaks in the water amount. Tastes even better - click here!*

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Soondubu - it's my go-to spicy stew that I eat when I return back to Seoul from trips abroad.

One sip of Soondubu and my body knows its back home ... time to de-compress!

Soondubu is a very famous spicy Korean stew that's made with freshly curdled soft tofu, vegetables, and your choice of protein.

There are seafoods versions (that includes oysters, clams and shrimp) or meat versions (which include beef or pork).

As soon as the dish arrives, locals like to crack a raw egg into the soup. Then bury it under the piping-hot tofu curdles. The egg will poach itself as you eat.

Then halfway into the meal, you can scoop out the perfectly poached egg and break it gently over white rice.

Sounds great no?

Soondubu is not made too frequently at home. That's because its cumbersome to make!

But today, I'll show you an amazing way to make it under 10 minutes! We'll shorten the time by making a Soondubu paste.

Drop a block of this special paste into a ceramic pot, along with some water. Then add-in your fresh veggies, protein and tofu.

Bring it up to boil... and that's it! 

It's an incredible recipe for meal prepping. Or for making quick savory Korean dinners after work.

Key taste variable: Gochugaru

Gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes) is the key ingredient to get the spice level and flavor just right. It provides that smoky spice which is hard to replicate with other chili peppers.

The gochugaru we use on our videos is made from 100% Korea-grown chili peppers.

(Many Korean marts in the US or abroad sell gochugaru that are sourced from China - which have lower quality and taste).

You can find the brand we use here on Gochujar.

COOKING NOTES:

First and most important - do not use dining salt! For all recipes on future dish, we use kosher salt (see image below).

In fact, Kosher salt is the default salt you should be using for cooking any recipe. That's because it has a coarser texture and prevents over salting.

In contrast, dining salt (or table salt) has very fine grains - which makes things taste salty real quick. That's why it's typically set on the dining table ... maybe the only time to use it is to salt scrambled eggs? 

I repeat again, don't use dining salt for this recipe - or the ratio will be off and taste too salty!

The listed recipe will make enough paste for you to make at least 16+ individual servings of Soondubu. It seems like alot but it gets used quickly - especially if you're cooking family portions.

However, if you're living by yourself, I would recommend reducing the listed ingredients for the Soondubu paste by half. This should be enough.

If you go to a Korean mart, look for "Soondubu" tofu. It's usually sold in a cylindrical tube. Or you can show them this text ("순두부 두부 찾고있습니다"). It means: "I'm looking for tofu to make Soondubu."

*Recipe Tweak: In our video tutorial, we used ⅓ cup of water to mix with the paste. But we have since tweaked the recipe to ½ cup of water. Make sure to give the broth a taste before dropping-in the egg. If it's slightly spicy or salty, add in a 1 or 2 dashes of water!*

Alrighty, enjoy Neighbors! Tag us on @IG (efutureneighbor) if you try it out. We love seeing pics of you cooking! 😊

-Daniel Out 🕺

P.s. If you're cooking (or eating alone) at home - don't get too lonely! Play our latest discussions in the background and enjoy some food-for-thought 🙉:

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