I keep going back to this dish during the wintertime. What could be better than a big pot full of falling-off-the-bone tender chicken meat, along with soft bites of sweet potatoes, cabbages and carrots? Don't forget the soft-chewy rice cakes and sweet potato glass noodles! You can't go wrong with the oh-so-hearty gochujang marinade either.
Even after making it so many times, I still get excited about this dish every time. It's an easy crowd pleaser that you can make ahead. Even if you are not hosting a dinner party, make the recipe with a whole chicken. You will want to have this for a few dinners during the week.
Often a Korean recipe written in Korean starts with making the base stock or broth. One of the reasons for it is that making stock is usually not an all day process in home kitchens. Throw in the bones, a few basic vegetables you find with a big pot full of water for an hour or two while you prepare the rest of the recipe, and there you have your quick stock. This is enough for the stew and an extra quart or so for another dish in the future. I am a big fan of making use of a whole chicken, but if you don't want to get into it yet, buy a mix of dark meat and breast meat along with chicken stock.
Once I put together everything for chicken stew, I take slight variations from there. Sometimes I add sticky rice cakes and sweet potato noodles (당면 dangmyeon, mainly used for making japchae, sautéed glass noodles with vegetables) and the stew serves as a complete meal. Sometimes I pick a few pieces of chicken and vegetables, add handmade quick noodles to the stew with a bit more broth, which becomes a one big happy pot of bubbling spicy noodle stew (picture at the bottom). Sometimes I add chopped kimchi in the remaining broth at the end along with rice and nori (김 gim) flakes and sesame seeds, which becomes a tart, homey ending to a meal. Depending on which direction I take, I add or eliminate sticky rice cakes and/or sweet potato noodles.
If you want to make this chicken stew, enjoy it as your dinner along with egg-tofu custard, radish salad, kimchi rice and lemon soju, and take some home for your weekend without the hassle of grocery shopping, I'm holding a class in March at Haven's Kitchen. I'll be there to guide you along the way! For more information and registration, go to my class page or visit Haven's Kitchen website.
SPICY CHICKEN STEW (매운 찜닭 maeum jjimdalk)
Yield - 4 Main Servings
INGREDIENTS:
Quick Chicken Stock
1 Chicken carcass and other bone parts
8 cups Water
1 Onion, peeled and cut to chunks
5 cloves Garlic
1 piece Ginger, size of 5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
2 teaspoons Black peppercorns
Also other vegetables as available (carrots, celery stalks, bay leaf, etc.)
Chicken Marinade
1/4 cup Gochujang ( Korean red pepper paste)
2 tablespoons Dwenjang ( Korean fermented bean paste)
2 tablespoons Toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Grated garlic (about 5 cloves)
1 tablespoon Ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Gochu garu ( Korean red pepper flakes)
1 teaspoon Sugar
Chicken Stew
1 Whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs.)
4 oz. Dried sweet potato starch noodles (당면 dang myeon)
3~4 cups Chicken stock (from above)
2 cups Cabbage, cut to chunks (about 1/4 of a head)
1~2 Japanese sweet potatoes, medium-sized, peeled and cut to chunks
1~2 Russet potato, medium sized, peeled and cut to chunks
1~2 Carrots, peeled and cut to chunks
2 Scallions, trimmed and cut to thin slices
2 teaspoons Toasted sesame seeds, crushed
Optional) 1/2 cup ~ 1 cup Sticky rice cakes, soaked in cold water if frozen
DIRECTIONS:
1. Make the marinade by combining gochujang, dwenjang, sesame oil, grated garlic, grated ginger, soy sauce, gochu garu and sugar. Set aside.
2. Remove skin and break down a chicken to 8 pieces (2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings and 2 breasts). Cut the breast meat to chunks. Mix half of the marinade in the chicken in a bowl. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes to an hour. You can also leave the marinated chicken overnight in the refrigerator.
3. After the chicken breakdown, make quick chicken stock by adding the chicken carcass in a pot with water, onion, garlic, ginger and whole peppercorns. Bring up to a boil then simmer for 1~2 hours. Check once in a while and skim off foam and fat that rise to the top.
4. In a separate pot, add marinated chicken and 2 cups of chicken stock. Boil over medium heat for an hour, until meat is very tender, almost falling off the bones.
5. In the meantime, soak dried sweet potato starch noodles (당면 dang myeon) in 1 cup of chicken stock until soft.
6. Once the chicken is completely cooked, add cabbage, Japanese sweet potato, potato, carrot chunks and onion slices along with the remaining spicy marinade to teh pot. Bring it up to a boil and cook until all vegetables are completely soft.
7. Add soaked sweet potato starch noodles in the pot. Add sticky rice cakes if using. Boil until the noodles are completely cooked, soft and chewy. Add another cup of chicken stock to adjust the stew consistency if desired. Remove from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle scallion slices and sesame seeds for garnish. Serve hot.
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