Soups & Stews · Ace of Ladles · Ace of Ladles

Sundubu Jjigae

Sundubu Jjigae (Soft Tofu Stew) · 순두부찌개

Difficulty: Easy
Time to plan: 25–30 min
Serves: 2 servings
Recipe: 5 steps
Listed places: 2

Food notes and context

This sundubu jjigae cooks soft tofu with clams or mixed seafood in a red broth. Unlike sliced firm tofu in doenjang stew, the soft curds break up readily in the pot.

Check whether the version contains seafood, meat, vegetables or egg. Red color alone cannot establish its heat; lift a portion of tofu with some broth to notice the curds rather than stirring everything flat.

Cook this version

Images are AI-generated illustrations, not records of a kitchen test. Follow the written ingredients and steps. Ingredients and substitutions guide

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 12–15 min
Wait: None
Ready in: 25–30 min

Eat only clams that open and discard closed ones. Use a pasteurized egg if serving it soft.

Ingredients (2 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Substitute abroad
Extra-soft (silken) tofu tubes	2 tubes (700 g)	Korean grocers; silken tofu works
Clams or mixed seafood	1 cup	Ground pork for a meat version
Gochugaru	2 tbsp	Korean grocers online
Minced garlic and scallion	1 tbsp each	Anywhere
Cooking oil and sesame oil	1 tbsp each	For the chili-oil base
Anchovy-kelp stock	1 cup	Water plus a little fish sauce
Eggs	2	Cracked in at the end
Soup soy sauce or salted shrimp	To season	Salt

Step by step

1.Make the chili oil
Heat the oils in a stone pot and fry the chili flakes, garlic, and scallion over low heat into a chili oil. The trick is stopping just before it scorches.
2.Sear the seafood, pour the stock
Fry the clams or seafood for 1–2 minutes, add the stock, and bring to a full boil. Cook the seafood thoroughly for 4–6 minutes from the time it enters the pot.
3.Add the sundubu
Spoon in the silken tofu in big curds and simmer another 3–4 minutes. Eat only clams that open and discard any that remain closed.
4.Season and boil
Season with salted shrimp or soup soy sauce and bring to one more boil.
5.Cook the egg and serve
Use a pasteurized egg if serving it soft. For a regular egg, crack it in, cover, and cook 2–3 minutes until both the white and yolk are firm, then serve with rice.

Measurement, doneness and storage references

Make your cooking notes

Record products, quantities, actual times and results to compare your next attempt. You can note photo filenames. Notes are not sent to a server and are lost when you leave this page, so save the file first.

Your notes

Places to check when planning a meal

Candidates to investigate for this food. Maps use sourced location records; confirm the current menu, opening and booking directly. This list is not a tasting review or an award certification.

Wonjo Chodang Sundubu

Chodang-dong, Gangneung, Gangwon

강원특별자치도 강릉시 초당순두부길77번길 9 (초당동)Checked 2026.08.09

Public-record location check, not a live opening-hours guarantee. Confirm with the restaurant before visiting.

Location source 1

Directions Naver Map

Chodang Tofu Village

Chodang-dong, Gangneung, Gangwon

Exact current location is not verified here. Confirm the venue through its official information before planning a visit.

The fictional face of this dish

Water element · a face of soft curves

The softest surface in the world over a heart hot as a stone pot. Not one sharp corner on you: the tender type who seeps in and soothes a wounded heart.

Upright: Softness wins today. The harder you want to push, the more gently you should wrap it, soft as silken tofu, and even a hardened heart loosens in your warmth.

Reversed: Playing soft while your insides boil over. Even sundubu bubbles hard inside the stone pot, so show your true temperature honestly today.

The K-Roast take: Grandma's roast

Fictional food metaphors inspired by traditional face-reading, not measurements of your face or personality.

Those eye corners settle down gently: mild and full of affection. You are sundubu itself, child, yielding wherever you are pressed. But listen, soft as it looks, silken tofu keeps its shape inside a boiling pot. Your softness is not weakness, it is flexibility. Know that difference yourself first, and nobody will mistake you for a pushover.

Those eyes are big and round, and your heart floats up in your face. The way seasoning seeps into soft tofu, feeling seeps into your expression. That transparency is your credit. But the world holds those who would stir their own seasoning into your clear broth, so keep the pot lid in your own hand.

Those cheekbones glow soft: a face that seeps in. Do you know why Chodang sundubu became famous? Seasoned with seawater, so it turns gently nutty without the bitterness of brine. Your presence carries that same seasoning. Never loud, yet everyone feels the lack when you are gone. That subtlety is what lasts; do not envy the artificial flavors.

Surviving among the strong by softness is your talent. Sundubu gets called younger sibling to firm tofu, but the ones who know order sundubu first. Keep that tender sincerity of yours boiling exactly as it is.
Grandma's blessing

Table compatibility

A bowl of white rice beside your bubbling broth is a match proven every morning and evening. Next to heavy-oiled samgyeopsal your tender curds lose their presence, so do not surrender the lead role.