Chigae (again)

So, I just had some more chigae. Where as before last week I was only eating chigae from the equivalent of Korean fast food joints, I am now eating chigae from those same places but also a new little find right across from my house. I believe I wrote about the place before, so to quickly recap, there is this restaurant literally 20 feet from my house and the food there is TO DIE FOR.

Tonight I made the arduous journey over to the restaurant, ordered my usual, kimchi chigae. Being the only one in the restaurant, I figured I'd seize the moment and try to ask the chef (an approximately 50-60 year old woman who is insisting I call her "Mom") to watch her cook my favorite dish. At first I didn't think she understood what I was asking, so just sat back down at the table, but minutes later, she brought out all of the chigae ingredients to my table and using the burner that is in the middle of the table, cooked the chigae right in front of me. It was great!

Here's the recipe.

1. Get some good ol' stinky kimchi (the older/more fermented the better)
2. Add about 1 cup of kimchi, and about 1 cup of hot water to a pot and bring the whole mixture to a boil.
3. Once boiling, add about 4 ounces of pork. (I'm not sure of the cut, but it looks like thick cut bacon, and it cooks/becomes tender with only a little cooking, so I'm quite certain it's NOT pork shoulder...maybe it's loin, but loin is more lean than this stuff...again, I think something like thick cut bacon (minus the smokey flavor) would be right) Also add about 4 ounces of tofu, 1/4 cup scallions, 1/4 cup roughly chopped onion and about 1 tbsp of minced/pressed garlic.
4. Bring the whole mixture to a boil and let it cook on high for about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste, and voila!

If you're inclined to make the above recipe, keep in mind it serves about 2 people, and DON'T forget, the better the kimchi you start with, the better the chigae.

Anyway, I'm super excited to have received this little cooking lesson. I tried to leave a tip (tipping is not something you do in Korea) for "Mom" but she adamantly refused and then insisted on sending me home with a doggie bag of extra chapche (noodle salad). I'm totally blown away by her hospitality :-)