What's for lunch? Try Sundubu

One of my favorite Korean foods is Sundubu. It is a soft tofu stew that has chili paste, sesame oil, and vegetables. It comes boiling to the table and it tastes best when you drop a raw egg into the broth as soon as it comes to the table. The heat from the broth will soft boil the egg. The yolk should be a bit runny- like a sunny side up egg. When you mix the creamy yolk with the spicy soup, it tastes amazing.

You can get it flavored many different ways such as with pork, beef, or seafood. This one is a seafood stew with shrimp and clams.

A close up of the sundubu. This one also has some straw mushrooms in it and they add a springy, noodle like texture to the dish.

And you can't forget about all the different banchan. The panchan is to balance the spiciness of the stew and to accompany the rice.

This one was a new discovery. It's (soft boiled?) and fried peanuts in a soy and sesame oil. The nuts were crunchy and the savory notes went well with the dish.

Another favorite of mine are the chilies that are boiled and fermented. They look spicy, but aren't really. 

You can find sundubu at most little restaurants in Seoul. My favorite place to get it is in Gyeongju around Bomun Lake, but Cheongdam Sundubu has a nice selection (including a white sundubu that doesn't have red pepper sauce in it). LA sundubu is also a decent chain as well.

Well, that's lunch! Have a great day.

Dan