The dish is made with freshly curdled extra soft tofu (sundubu) which has not been strained and pressed, vegetables, sometimes mushrooms, onion, optional seafood (commonly oysters, mussels, clams and shrimp), optional meat (commonly beef or pork), and gochujang or gochugaru.

The dish is assembled and cooked directly in the serving vessel, which is traditionally made of thick, robust porcelain, but can also be ground out of solid stone.

The dish has reached popularity overseas, making appearances in American and Canadian media articles such as Kim's Convenience of CBC Television.

During the cooking process, spicy paste is incorporated into the mixture, usually made from hot pepper flakes and sesame oil.

[6] The origins of using unpressed tofu in Korean cuisine is not well documented, but records from the Joseon dynasty archives show an early form of sundubu-jjigae being served.

In 1986, Monica Lee opened Beverly Soon Tofu in the Koreatown neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California and it was the first restaurant in the United States to specialise in sundubu-jjigae.

[17][18][19][20][21] The dish became even more widely known when Hee Sook Lee, a first-generation Korean immigrant, opened her sundubu restaurant, BCD Tofu, in Vermont Avenue, Koreatown, and expanded it into a national chain.

Now, sundubu-jjigae restaurants are operated in Koreatown in Toronto and Burnaby and Coquitlam in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia.

[23] The North American version of the dish was eventually introduced back to South Korea due to its popularity.