Korean Spicy Chicken Stew (닭도리탕)

Hello from the end of 2021 😂
I’m terrible at being consistent on this and I do apologize. Well, not really?
Not really since 2020-2021 has been such a strange year! And literally my life has been the same hustle and grind. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that my husband and I got a dog and he’s the best pup we can ask for; especially with our busy schedule. But other than that, everything has been the same 🙃

But enough of my life update. The main reason I’m back is to share another recipe that I love making and eating, especially during these cold days. It’s called 닭도리탕 (dak – do – lee – tang), which is pretty much a spicy chicken stew. You can add clear noddles or rice cake, but we’re simple people and love having the extra broth to mix with our rice.

If you follow the instruction, it should be pretty straight forward. If not, let me know and I can help explain more! No photos as I was quick to make to feed my hungry self and husband. But maybe I’ll do a reel next time around. But here we go!

Ingredients:

• Chicken
  I used chicken thighs this time around, but you can use whatever part of chicken you like! Used two packs of the Kirkland Organic Chicken Thighs
• Potatoes (used 3 golden potatoes)
• Carrots (used 2 thick stalk)
• 1 Onion
• Green onion (used about 3 stalk)
• 1 serrano pepper (optional)
• Water
• Milk

For Sauce:

• 10 spoon¹ of soy sauce
• 4 spoon of chili paste
• 3 spoon of sugar_²
• 2 spoon of chili flakes
• 1 spoon of mirin
• 1 spoon of grated garlic

COOKING TIME

1. Brine chicken in milk for 30 minutes.
   Make sure you use enough milk to cover every piece of the chicken. This step is tenderizing the meat.
   
2. During this time, create your sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together.
   NOTE:
   1. The spoon size I’m using is this wooden spoon I got from Amazon and has been my go to when making Korean food. If you don’t have a wooden spoon, your silver cereal spoon works too 😂
   2. Whenever I make Korean food, I rarely use granulated sugar. I like using plum extract (매실청) instead. So sweetness could be different here. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking.
   
3. Two options here:
   1. Rinse the chicken from the brine and boil. The impurities will rise up, so as that comes through, spoon it out and continue the recipe
      
   2. After the brine, transfer the chicken to a pot and bring to a boil. Once chicken is cooked through, strain the chicken and rinse in cold water. This is just making sure your chicken is clean from impurities.
      
      I was in a rush, so chose option 1. Rinse the chicken from its milk brine and transfer the chicken into the pot with enough water covering the chicken (about 2~3 cups), add 3 spoons of granulated sugar to the water. I know, I used granulated sugar 😏
      Cooking on high heat
      
4. Once water is boiling and impurities start to come out – spoon it out! Once you have cleared out the impurities, add potatoes
   
5. After about 5 mins, add the onion and carrots and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.
   
6. Add your sauce and lower your heat to medium-high. Continue to cook for about 20 minutes, covered.
   NOTE: I was using a dutch oven, which doesn’t have vent, so I had the cover just cracked off to the side to allow steam to be released.
   
7. In the last 5 minutes of the 20, lower your heat to medium-low and add green onion. You can also add serrano pepper if you want an extra kick.
   
8. After 20 minutes, give it a taste and serve!