#2523: Nongshim Budae Jjigae Noodle Soup

Here’s one I found at the local HMart a couple months ago. I’ve had a budae jjigae instant once before – I know there’s at least one more variety out there… Very curious how this one is. Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say about budae jjigae –

Budae-jjigae[1] (부대찌개; literally “troop stew”) or sausage stew[1] is a type of jjigae (a thick Korean soup similar to a Western stew). Soon after the Korean War, food was scarce in Seoul, South Korea. Some people made use of surplus foods from U.S. military bases around the Uijeongbu area, Pyeongtaek area (also called Songtan)[2] or Munsan area, such as hot dogs, Spam, or ham, and incorporated them into a traditional spicy soup flavored with gochujang (red chili paste) and kimchi.

Uijeongbu Budaejjigae-Street
Budae jjigae is still popular in South Korea. The dish often incorporates such modern ingredients as instant noodles and sliced American cheese. Other ingredients may include ground beef, sliced sausages, baked beans, minari, onions, green onions, tteok, tofu, chili peppers, macaroni, garlic, mushrooms, and other vegetables in season.[3]

Alright – let’s get started.

Nongshim Budae Jjigae Noodle Soup – South Korea

Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Contains fish. To prepare, add noodle block and sachets to 500ml boiling water. Cook for 4 1/2 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!

The noodle block.

The soup base sachet.

A tan colored mixture.

The vegetables sachet.

Quite the mix here.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, yaki kamaboko, and salami. These noodles were excellent – nice and chewy with a pleasant gumminess and gauge. This is the kind of ramyun I adore! The bro has a lightly spicy hit and has a really rounded flavor; reminds me of pork and beans and hot dogs – with a nice dose of kimchi taste. The garnish includes decent pieces of kimchi as well and these pieces that are very much like slices of hot dog, however, remind me of fish cake too. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 031146037780.