A thick, rich Korean stew made with tuna and potato — perfect for mixing into rice. Unnie’s foolproof recipe for jjaglee, a lesser-known Korean comfort food.
Have you ever heard of jjaglee (짜글이)? It’s a Korean stew, but on the drier, thicker end of the spectrum — Korean soups actually have a whole hierarchy based on how much liquid they have: jjaglee < jjigae < guk < tang, from least broth to most. Jjaglee is somewhere in between a stew and a side dish — thick, deeply reduced, and made specifically for mixing into rice. Think of it as jjigae that’s been simmered down until every bite is packed with flavor. It’s the definition of a “rice thief” (밥도둑) — the kind of dish that makes you eat way more rice than you meant to.
Today I’m making tuna potato jjaglee, and if you follow this recipe exactly, you will absolutely go back for seconds. I ate two full bowls of rice with this one.
Ingredients for Tuna Potato Jjaglee (serves 2)
- Main: 2 potatoes, 1 stalk green onion, half an onion, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 large can of tuna
- Sauce: 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red chili paste), 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes), 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp myeolchi-aek (Korean anchovy fish sauce), 3 tbsp rice syrup (or corn syrup), 1 tbsp chamchi-aek (Korean tuna extract seasoning), white pepper
- Other: 3 tbsp olive oil, 400–500ml water, 1 beef bouillon cube (or 1 tbsp beef stock powder), 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Optional toppings: fried egg, gim (dried seaweed)
How to Make Tuna Potato Jjaglee
- Dice the potatoes into bite-sized cubes, thinly slice the green onion, and chop the onion. (Go easy on the onion — too much makes the dish sweet, so lean more on the green onion instead.)
- Heat a wok, pour in the oil from the tuna can, and add 3 tbsp of olive oil.
- Add the potatoes, onion, and green onion, and stir-fry over medium heat for 2–3 minutes. Cooking the vegetables in oil first is what really brings out the flavor later.
- Add 400–500ml of water, the tuna, minced garlic, gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, myeolchi-aek, and rice syrup.
- Drop in a beef bouillon cube for extra depth. (Beef stock powder works too — I just used a bouillon cube because that’s what I had on hand.)
- Stir well so the sauce fully dissolves into the water, then simmer on medium-high heat for 10 minutes. If you’re using less water, keep stirring occasionally so the potatoes don’t stick to the bottom and burn.
- Check the potatoes with your chopsticks — once they’re soft all the way through, finish with a drizzle of sesame oil and you’re done.
How Unnie Eats It
Scoop a generous bowl of warm rice, top it with the softened potato, flaky tuna, and that thick jjaglee sauce, and mix it all together. One bite in, and you’ll understand exactly why this counts as a rice thief. Add a fried egg and some crispy gim on top and the whole bowl disappears in minutes.
Stuck on what to make for dinner tonight? Try this one. If you make it, let me know in the comments — more recipes coming soon.
Written by hiunnie — Unnie, sharing real local food & travel spots.
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