Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to Korean comfort food classics with a shot at the Korean "buldak" or "fire chicken." For those unfamiliar, the Korean "buldak" or literally translated, fire-chicken, is a grilled or fried chicken dish that (as the name implies) is best known for its spicy qualities derived from the use of chili paste or gochujang, chili powder or gochugaru, and a Korean marmalade known as "cheong". The pairing of these elements in turn go on to yield the dish's its firey spice profiles, as well as its signature menacingly bright red color, hence its name.
For our version today, we'll be incorporating these elements into our chicken marinade with a couple of adjustments to accommodate for our home kitchen wok sear method (in lieu of the more traditional open flame grill), meaning that we'll need to rethink when we incorporate our sweet elements, to avoid the sugars burning in the sear. Finally to pair with all of this, buldak is often (albeit optionally) paired with a coin shaped rice cake known as tteok for a bit of texture to our dish, plus, you guessed it, mozzarella cheese, to give us at long last, the cheese pull that we've all been waiting for on this channel. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) fine minced ginger
3 green onions
8oz tteok (coin shaped)
mozzarella cheese
3 medium chicken thighs
4 tbsp honey
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp gochugaru
4 tbsp gochujang
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SEPARATE the whites and greens of the green onions, then slice thinly, set aside
REHYDRATE the tteok in boiling water for 10 minutes until tender
COMBINE all marinade ingredients, set aside
LARGE DICE the chicken thigh, then combine with marinade ingredients and let marinate for 30 minutes
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok over medium heat, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the chicken about 20 pieces at a time, then sear for 2 minutes before tossing
TILT the wok downward toward the open flame for optional wok hei
REMOVE the chicken, then reheat the wok, add an additional 2 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic, ginger, and the whites of the green onions and toss until fragrant for 15 seconds
ADD the tteok and the chicken back to the wok, then toss to combine
ADD an additional 1/2 cup water, then let simmer for 20 minutes until a thick sauce texture forms
ADD the buldak to a cast iron skillet, then top with mozzarella cheese and place in the top rack of an oven with the broiler on high for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted
FINISH with the greens of the green onions