Valentine's Kimchi Jjigae Burrito from The Official Netflix Cookbook (Always Be My Maybe)

This week, I'm sharing my experience making another Netflix Cookbook recipe for Valentine's Kimchi Jjigae Burritos, inspired by the romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe. Kimchi jjigae, a stew, is cooked by the mother of one of the leads and becomes a nostalgic meal for him, recreated later on in the film in a sweet moment. Here, that stew becomes a filling for burritos.

Always Be My Maybe is a romantic comedy (romcom) from 2019, which had a limited theatrical release before being put on Netflix after two days. It focuses on Marcus and Sasha, childhood friends who got together only for it to end badly. Sixteen years later, Marcus is a struggling musician while Sasha has become a successful celebrity chef with a seemingly perfect life. A chance encounter causes them to reconnect and assess whether or not they should give it another try.

The movie was charming and sweet. I'm not one who watches a lot of romcoms, but I appreciated this movie's subversion of romcom cliches, social commentary and themes of nostalgia and Korean-American culture.

At the beginning of Always Be My Maybe, Marcus' mom Judy Kim makes kimchi-jjigae, a kimchi stew, for him and Sasha and shows Sasha how to make it. Like a traditional Korean mother, she cuts up her scallions (spring onions for those of you who are Brits) and noodles with scissors, even getting Sasha to try it herself. Judy always makes far too much and Marcus takes it to school in his thermos, which causes his ignorant peers to mock him for having different food.

Judy: Look at that. Doesn't that look amazing?

Sasha: It looks super amazing.

Judy: Kimchi-jjigae is very simple, but that's what makes it so good. It's about using the best ingredients.

Sasha: It smells so good, Mrs. Kim.

Judy: Sasha, I've told you a million times, call me Judy. And we Koreans use scissors for everything. Vegetables, noodles...

Harry Kim (Judy's husband): Our children.

Judy: All right. You wanna try?

Sasha: Okay. [she snips some scallions]

Judy: Look at you. You're a natural.

Sasha: Thanks... Judy.

Judy; Are you sure you're not Korean?

Sasha goes on to become the flashy, upscale type of chef where the food's presentation matters more than the heart that goes into it. In the end, she starts a new restaurant that's more grounded and uses all of Judy's recipes, including kimchi-jjigae.

Sasha: Come here. I wanna show you something. Hey, is it ready?

Cook: Yes, Chef.

Marcus: It's just like my mom's.

Sasha: It's all her recipes. This is what I want to do, Marcus. The kind of food that makes people feel at home. The way your mom always made me feel.

Marcus: You win. This beats my speech. It's gonna be hard to give you an unbiased Yelp review.

The Kimchi Jjigae Burrito recipe is found in the Netflix Cookbook's Holiday Fare chapter, themed around Valentine's Day. Appropriate, given that it comes from a romcom. Although it's not eaten as a burrito filling in the movie, there's a scene where Marcus asks for a "monochrome burrito to go" when he eats some of Sasha's fancy, if not filling enough food.

The stew is made first, incorporating kimchi, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, scallions, pork belly and standard Korean flavorings. Like many burritos, these also have rice, here sushi rice, cooked separately. You also have your choice of mozzarella or cheddar; I opted for the latter.

I made plans to make these with my two loyal taste testers one Valentine's Day weekend. Therefore, to save on time I cooked the stew and rice the day before I went over. I made the mistake of letting the rice soak in the water while I got the rest of the ingredients ready so I could take the above mise en place picture. Because of that, it ended up absorbing most of the rice before I started to cook it. I added more and then let it steam, rescuing it. Then you stir in sesame seeds.

The kimchi, some of its liquid, and the pork belly are the base for the stew. Like Judy Kim, and as the recipe called for, I used scissors to cut up the scallions. As with any good stew, each ingredient is added one at a time to slowly build up flavor. However, it's not a simmer-all-day type of stew. Once it cooks for a total of 20 minutes and becomes thick, it's ready to use.

The day my friends and I made these burritos, we played games, saw a different romcom (Kissing is the Easy Part, which had come out that weekend) and then started cooking. By this point, the kimchi jjigae and rice were cold, so I warmed them up in the microwave to take the chill off. The recipe makes enough filling for four burritos and we had four in total, each eating one, and them splitting the last.

My burrito rolling technique needs work. I avoided adding too much filling to mine, though I couldn't get it to close even when I tightly rolled it. Thankfully my friends were there to help. The first burrito is I suppose like the first pancake. It doesn't look that great, but the rest of them turn out wonderfully. Even though it makes four burritos, we had a bit of kimchi jjigae and rice leftover. I decided to mix them together and fry it until crisp and warmed up, then we divided that.

These burritos were incredible! Very flavorful, filling, warm and sumptuous, and they're unique! They have to be one of my favorite dishes from the cookbook so far. If you make them, I bet they'll be one of your favorites too!

If you want to make this recipe for Valentine's Kimchi Jjigae Burritos yourself, you can get it in The Official Netflix Cookbook: 70 Recipes from Your TV to Your Table.