| Pukjai | |
| Name Italics: | true |
| Region: | Former Soviet Central Asia |
| Associated Cuisine: | Koryo-saram cuisine |
| Main Ingredient: | Fermented soybean paste (doenjang; jai) |
| Type: | Jjigae |
| Similar Dish: | Doenjang-jjigae |
Pukjai or bukjai (Koryo-mar: 북자이 Korean: букжай pronounced as /ko/) is a soybean stew dish in Koryo-saram cuisine. It is a descendent of the Korean dish doenjang-jjigae.[1] The dish uses soybean paste (jai; ;)[2] as the base flavoring for the broth. Various ingredients are then added to the base stew.
Koryo-saram are Koreans of the former Soviet Union. They have a cuisine descended from the Korean peninsula and influenced by the regions they have lived in. They primarily descend from Korean populations in the North Hamgyong Province, and as such their language and cuisine is influenced by that region. The word pukjai descends from the term bukjang (북장), which was the term for the North Hamgyong-style doenjang.
In one restaurant in the return migration enclave Ttaetgol Village in Ansan, South Korea, the soup contained tomatoes, cabbage, and a whole egg. This would be considered unusual for South Korean doenjang-jjigae.