Kimchi Tofu Soup (Meal-for-one Recipe)
This 15-minute hot and spicy kimchi tofu soup makes a perfect meal for one person. With this classic kimchi tofu soup recipe plus a hot-stone bowl, you can always enjoy a Korean restaurant experience at home.
Equipment
- 1 Stone Bowl Mine was 5.5 Inch (24 oz), perfect size for single-serving meal.
Ingredients
Ingredients for 1 serving. Double the ingredients if you are cooking for two.
- 150 g kimchi
- 200 g soft tofu
- 50 g seafood mushroom (You can also use enoki mushroom, shiitake mushroom, or any type of mushroom you like.)
- ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 15 g onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp soybean paste (Can be substituted with soy sauce *see note 2)
- ⅘ cup chicken stock (Or vegetable stock, or rice water *see note 1)
- ½ tsp Korean chili powder
- 1 egg (Optional)
- salt to your taste (Optional, depending on how salty your kimchi is. I didn't add any salt to my soup.)
Toppings
- green onions
- 1 to 3 small fresh chili peppers (Optional if you can't handle spicy food)
- cilantros (Optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Use a pair of scissors (or a knife) to cut 150g kimchi into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
- Cut 200g soft tofu into 2 inch cubes. Cut a small wedge of onion. Chop off the seafood mushrooms' roots and discard. Peel and slice a clove of garlic. Chop some green onions, fresh peppers, and cilantros, set aside.
Making the kimchi tofu soup
- In a small stone bowl (or saucepan), heat sesame oil over medium high heat for 1 minute.
- Add onion and garlic, stir with chopsticks for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add kimchi, stir for 1 minute until hot.
- Reduce the heat to medium low, add soybean paste, stir until well mixed. Add tofu and mushrooms, pour in chicken stock or water to immerse the tofu.
- Sprinkle Korean chili powder over the soup. Gently stir until the color of the soup looks even. Turn heat to medium high to bring the soup to a boil.
- Turn heat to medium high to bring the soup to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the stew for 5 minutes. Add an egg to the stew, simmer for about 3 minutes until the egg is soft boiled (runny yolk, set white).
- Garnish the kimchi tofu stew with chopped green onions, cilantros, and fresh peppers.
- Serve hot with steamed rice.
Video
Notes
1. If you don't have chicken, beef, or vegetable stock at hand, you can use rice water to substitute stock or broth. The easiest way to get rice water is soaking the rice:
- Take a cup of uncooked white rice, rinse thoroughly.
- Add rice to a bowl with 3 cups of cold water.
- Leave to soak for 30 minutes
- Strain the rice water into a clean bowl.