A few years ago, some Korean students kindly came to my house and cooked up a Korean feast for me. One of the dishes was this chicken stew cooked by Lee Moon Gil. Despite having really enjoyed this meal and since lived in Korea, until recently I had never attempted Korean cooking myself.
When I lived in Korea, I had no need to cook and little equipment to do so. My employers provided me with dinner on weekdays and at weekends it was cheaper to eat out than buy groceries. My meals at work were usually the cheapest available, comprising little meat and veg and lots of noodles. When I left Korea I had rather tired of the cuisine.
Recently though, I came to crave it again. It is not as well-known as Chinese or even Japanese food, but for people who like their food spicy, it is very palatable. It has influences from other Asian nations but is not usually cooked in a wok. One of the most important ingredients is a red spicy paste called gochujang. On a recent visit to England I bought some, luckily I have a Korean store in walking distance of my home there.
I feel slightly apologetic about posting yet another chicken recipe, but as I have said before it is about all I can afford to buy here! My husband said he could eat this every night, so I felt it was worth posting. Thanks to Moon Gil who e-mailed me the recipe. I had to modify the recipe slightly to what was available and I admit I reduced the spices. Here is how I made daktoritang.
Ingredients for daktoritang
sufficient chicken per person (I used one chicken quarter per person)
1 medium onion
1 large carrot/ 2 small carrots
2 medium potatoes
1 chilli pepper sliced
salt
large pinch black pepper
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tablepoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons gochujang (4 tablespoons for Koreans)
1 tsp chilli powder (or 2 tablespoons if you are Korean)
3 spring onions, chopped
sufficient water to cover the chicken
Wash and dry the chicken pieces. If you wish you can marinade in Japanese cooking wine, but I omitted this.
Place in stock pot and cover with water. Put on the lid and bring to the boil. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, gochujang and chilli. Simmer for about 40 minutes with lid on. Add potatoes, carrots and onions and chilli pepper, cover and cook for another 20 mins to half an hour. About ten minutes before the end of cooking add the spring onions.
Serve with plain boiled rice.
Comments