Budea Jjigea (Army Base Stew) “Say What?”
This one qualifies as weird. From a culinary anthropological viewpoint though, it is pretty interesting. Of course anywhere Spam shows up, there is a story.
Yes, Army Base Stew has Spam in it. Ewwwwww! But wait! There’s more! Other traditional ingredients are hot dogs, baked beans, tofu, ramyen noodles, green onions and of course loads of hot pepper and garlic.
Have I got your attention yet? Maybe I should just breathe on you, cause it’s what I had for dinner last night. Yep, served it up to my kids and husband, and they actually ate it. It’s actually pretty good to eat.
The origin of this strange stew, known as Budea Jjigea in Korean; originated from a time when Korea was a war torn country. During the Korean war, and after it, things were a mess here. Folks had little to eat and America brought in non perishable supplies as relief packages. These photos taken from a display in The Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul, show what post war Korea looked like. There were no solid buildings for people to call home, so they cobbled together bits and pieces of metal to build shelters and tried to survive as best as they could. I can imagine that getting anything to eat was also hard, and had to be cobbled together too. The packages sent by American relief sources contained Spam, baked beans, and hot dogs (maybe those were canned too). Korean ingredients included tofu, green onions, garlic, hot pepper powder and ramyen noodles. Most importantly Korean hot pepper paste was available, and it forms the flavor base of this stew.
Koreans are a hardy people, having survived invasions and occupation from Japan and China at various points in history. They make do with what they have, and convert foreign things to suit their own tastes. This is how Budea Jjigea came about. So now that there are no shortages, foods that were used out of necessity then, have become luxury now. Spam and hot dogs are expensive compared to prices in the United States. One can of Spam can cost around $4.50 on the Korean economy! I don’t know the price of hot dogs, but have heard rumors of people black marketing them, thats how valuable they are! So this weird stew might seem like junk to an American, but to a Korean it is not an inexpensive dish to make. The ramyen noodles are cheap though, and so are the tofu, garlic and green onions. They are common ingredients in Korean cooking. Red pepper paste can be an expensive ingredient, but you have to have it, it is in everything. It’s called Gochujang, and no, chinese hot pepper paste will not work. Your are also going to need hot pepper flakes called Gochu garu. Chili powder will not work, and neither will cayenne. Korean marts in the United States carry all these things, as they are common to Korean cuisine.
So here is how you make this spicy concoction.
Put about 1 tablespoon of hot pepper flakes (Gochu Garu), and 2 heaping tablespoons of hot pepper paste (Gochujang)in 3 cups of water. Turn on the heat to high to bring to a boil.
Chop up 3 cloves of garlic roughly, add to the mixture and stir to break up the pepper paste you put in before.
Cut up about half of a Spam cube into bite sized chunks and add to your cauldron.
Hot dogs go into the pot next.
Chunk up about a quarter of a block of tofu and add it in.
One cup of baked beans go in, I like Bushes, but I bet Pork n’ Beans was the original.
Add in some water if the mix is getting too thick, and then put in your cube of ramyen noodles( that’s what Koreans call ramen noodles). I also added the seasoning packet for my salt.
Roughly chop up about one cup of green onions and put in. Stir it a little at this point, to break up the ramyen noodles
Pile on a cup or more of hardy greens, like turnip. I don’t think kale would taste good, but mustard greens might work. It’s pretty much whatever looks fresh and tasty. Stir them in as they start to wilt. If the mixture looks too thick and has no broth, add in water to bring it to a stew like consistency. Taste, and add salt if it needs it. Bring the whole thing back to a boil, and bring it to the table bubbling merrily away!
Your going to want to serve this with sticky rice to cut some of the spiciness. You also should have some kimchi on the side.
Yep, my kids did eat it. My 14 year old loved it. My nine year old ate half of his bowl. My Hubby liked it, but said the beans tasted weird. I ate my whole bowl. This recipe is strange, but could fall into the category of “have to have it” like once every 2 months or so. Not a regular thing, but cool when we do get it. If you don’t want to go to all the trouble to find the ingredients and then make it yourself, and if you live in near an Army base in Korea, lots of small restaurants serve this. I just thought that since we are an Army family, and I love to cook, we should try Army base Stew, Budea Jjigea.
