Before this year began, Chris said that he wanted to have more probiotics easily available in the house, and the best and tastiest way for us to do that would be to have kimchi available at all times. I thought yogurt would be a decent option, but despite Chris being Indian, yogurt… is not really something he eats regularly unless it’s via raita with a savory dish. He doesn’t just eat yogurt for breakfast or mix it with fruit or granola. So he decided on his always-on kimchi fix.

Well, that ‘always on’ fix ended up really being “always on” because we ended up spending WAY more time at home than we originally thought we would this past year. At the beginning of the pandemic, we stopped by Hmart and picked up a big tub of kimchi. Apparently, there were kimchi shortages everywhere as everyone loaded up on staples… yes, even in the Asian community. And we’ve been eating it little by little, refreshing each time we were near a Korean or Japanese store that sold it. Today, I finally used it to make kimchi jigae, or kimchi stew. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make it at home.

I’d previously made it with pork bones and ribs, so it was a lot richer, but I’d say that even with just chicken stock and some added silken tofu, it really sings together. It’s one of my favorite stews of all time, and it’s way simpler and easier to make than it looks. This needs to be on repeat at home now on.