Spicy stir-fried chicken with vegetables

Dakgalbi is a delicious, spicy grilled chicken dish that’s a popular choice for friends who are getting together to go out to eat. In Korea it’s communal dish that’s cooked and shared among a small, intimate group of people, so it naturally stimulates conversation and a good time. It’s impossible to eat dakgalbi in silence!

When you go to a restaurant with your friends and family and order dakgalbi, they’ll bring out a large pan filled with the dakgalbi ingredients as well as some side dishes. While the pan cooks on the tabletop, you and your friends can munch on side dishes and talk, and maybe order some drinks, too. The dakgalbi will cook nicely and the waitress will tell you: “Now you can eat!”

When you’re almost completely finished, you can ask the waitress: “We’d like some stir-fried rice please.” She’ll bring out some rice, mix it with the leavings in the pan, and quickly fry up some spicy, stir fried rice. She might divide the rice into portions and serve it to everyone at the table, or she might just leave it in the pan and let everyone dig in. For many people I know, this is their favorite part!

Don’t have a dakgalbi restaurant near you? Now you can make it at home! Invite your family and friends over, and prepare all the ingredients.

“Are you guys ready to eat dakgalbi?” you can ask.

“Yes, yes!”

Bring out the pan filled with vegetables, chicken, rice cake, and the sauce, and cook it at the table. Your house will be full of an irresistible, delicious aroma, laughter, and conversation, I guarantee!

This is an updated version of my earlier recipe, posted in 2013. This version is simplified by skipping gochujang and mirim, but I add some milk for the chicken to marinate. After I posted my old recipe in 2013, I learned adding some milk to chicken removes the not only the smell but also make it tender.

Ingredients

Serves 2 to 3

For chicken and marinade:

• 1 pound deboned chicken thigh (or drumsticks), cut into small bite sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

For the seasoning sauce:

• 12 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon peeled and minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• ⅓ cup gochu-garu (Korean hot pepper flakes)
• 2 tablespoons rice syrup (or corn syrup, or sugar)
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Veggies and rice cakes:

• 4 ounces sliced rice cake (1 cup), soaked in cold water at least 10 minutes
• 8 ounces cabbage, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
• 4 ounces (½ of large onion), sliced
• 1 small carrot (about ⅓ cup), peeled and sliced
• 1 or 2 green chili peppers, sliced
• ¾ cup peeled sweet potato, sliced into ¼ inch thick bite size pieces.
• 12 perilla leaves (or basil leaves), cut or ton a few times
• ½ cup water
• 1 bowl of rice (optional)
• ¼ cup chopped fermented kimchi (optional)

Directions

Marinate chicken:

1. Combine the chicken, milk, soy sauce, and ground black pepper in a bowl and mix all together with a spoon.
2. Cover and set aside.

Make seasoning sauce:

1. Combine the minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, water, gochu-garu (Korean hot pepper flakes), rice syrup, and ground black pepper in a bowl. Mix well with a spoon and set aside.
   

Cook and serve:

1. Spread the cabbage on the bottom of a large, heavy, and shallow pan or skillet.
2. Add onion, carrot, green chili pepper, sweet potato, rice cake, and perilla leaves in that order.
3. Add the chicken in the center. Pour the seasoning sauce over the chicken and spread it with a wooden spoon. Add 1/2 cup water.
4. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over medium high heat until it starts boiling. Turn down the heat to medium. Open and stir with wooden spoon so that the pan doesn’t burn and the ingredients and sauce mix evenly. Cover and cook another 13 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the chicken and sweet potato are cooked thoroughly.
5. Keep the heat low during the meal. Cook, stir, eat, and talk. The pieces will be hot, so be careful! Turn off the heat when the chicken and potato are totally cooked.
6. Give a bowl to each diner. They can each take some out of the pan into their bowl, and eat. When it’s almost totally finished, make some fried rice by adding some rice and chopped kimchi to what’s left on the grill.  Stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat for a few minutes. Serve in separate bowls, or give everyone a spoon and let them eat from the pan together.