Korean Food] Saengtae Jjigae (Fresh Pollock Stew) 생태찌게 / 동태찌게

When the weather gets chilly, fish stew tastes good, especially if it’s fresh caught fish from the sea. The Korean markets carry some fresh pollock that the fishermen bring in right away once they catch them. Frozen pollock are called dongtae (fresh ones are called saengtae) - you can use the frozen pollock as well for this recipe, but when it’s fresh it taste a lot better.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

• 3 small size fresh pollock (about 2 lb) - (saengtae 생태)
• 1/3 Korean white radish, about 8 oz (moo 무)
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 2 red fresh red pepper (or a small piece bell pepper)
• 1 small round onion
• ½ stalk celery
• 1/3 giant green onion (daepa 대파), or 2-3 stalks regular green onion
• handful Korean watercress (minari 미나리)
• ½ pk tofu
• 1 pk enoki mushroom, optional (paengi beoseot 팽이버섯)
• 4 cups water
• 4-5 small pieces thick kelp (dashima 다시마)
• 5-6 gutted dry anchovy (heads ok), or 1 tsp powder
• 3 tbsp Korean hot powder pepper (gochugaru 고추가루)
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• dash black pepper

RECIPE STEPS:

• Wash pollock carefully, and cut into about 2" long serving pieces. You can save the eggs or some of the roe to cook with the fish.
• Prep all of the vegetables: cut the Korean white radish into thin square pieces, slice all peppers into small thin pieces, cut celery into small pieces, slice round onion and slice daepa into round thin pieces, chop watercress roughly and cut tofu into thick squares; cut off bottom 2-3" of enoki mushrooms and clean thoroughly. Set aside.
• In a large pot, put about 4 cups of water, put sliced onion, dashima and anchovies; bring to a boil and turn the heat to med low; boil for about 10 min. Drain and just save the stock.
• Put cut white radish, gochugaru (hot pepper powder) and salt; bring to a boil and add cut pollock pieces, all the vegetables and tofu. Bring to a boil and add minced garlic and let it cook for additional 1-2 min; taste it to adjust salt; you can add a bit more if it needs and dash black pepper.

Serving Size: 3-4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes