Spicy Korean Chicken with Rice Cakes

I just came back from Korea not too long ago and the best part of the trip would have to be the food!! It was incredible the amount of great food we encountered wherever we went! On the street, at little hole in the walls, and even at big restaurants. Koreans must have a passion for food. One of the great dishes we had was Dak Galbi, which is a spicy chicken with rice cake.

I wanted to attempt to duplicate that at home. When researching, I came across a food blog called Beyond Kimchee. I think I must have pinned every single recipe on this blog!! Everything looks so mouthwatering. I found a recipe for Dak Galbi and I knew I had to try it.

The results? This is AMAZING!!! I knew it was going to be good as the smell of gochuchang (Korean chili paste) fills my apartment!! You really need to try this dish!!! It's that good!! With this recipe, I discovered this herb called perilla leaves. It has such an interesting taste and brings a lot to the dish, I want to put it on everything! Here's the recipe.

Spicy Korean Chicken with Rice Cakes
from Beyond Kimchee

1 lb (450g) boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
1/2 lb (250g) Korean rice cake sticks
1/4-1/2 cabbage, diced
8-10 perilla leaves, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 medium sweet potato, sliced into 1/4" thick wedges
2 tablespoon grape seed or canola oil
2-4 tablespoon water
more perilla leaves and toasted sesame seeds to garnish

For the sauce:
3 tablespoon Korean chili paste
2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoon Korean chili flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
2 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
dashes of pepper

1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Toss the chicken pieces with 1/2 the sauce and mix. Set aside.

2. Soak rice cakes in hot water until ready to use and drain (if using fresh rice cakes, you don't need to soak it).

3. Drizzle oil in a cast iron skillet, spread the chicken and top with vegetables (only 1/2 the amount of perilla leaves) and rice cakes. Drizzle the remaining sauce over and bring the skillet over med-high heat.

4. When you hear the loud sizzling noise from the skillet, toss to coat everything with the sauce. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Add the water to create steam to cook and reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook, about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. When chickens are cooked through and potatoes are tender, add the rest of the perilla leaves and heat through. Everything should be slightly browned at this stage.Toss gently so that you don't break the potatoes.

6. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with more perilla leaves. Serve hot.

Kimchee fried rice

Happy New Year everyone!! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since October 2011!!! I'm so sorry for the delay and I just want to thank you for your continual support of My Food Affair. So much has happened in the tail end of 2011. Mr. G and I bought a new home and we're engaged!!! My head is spinning and I'm dizzy with everything I have to do for 2012!! Yikes. Any chance you can suggest a wedding venue for us in Oahu? =P

Anyway, enough about me. Let's move on to the important stuff...FOOD!! Today I give you Kimchee fried rice. This recipe comes from A Dash of Sugar and Spice. I made some changes to the recipe to suit our tastes, but overall this is a simple recipe that's great for weeknights.

The key to good kimchee fried rice is good kimchee!! My friend's wife makes amazing kimchee and we're lucky to get a jar of it once in awhile. I used this pot of Korean gold for this dish and I think it really made a difference. The original recipe calls for soy sauce for additional flavor, but our kimchee was so flavorful, we didn't need any additional seasoning. Try it and let me know what you think!

Kimchee Fried Rice 

adapted from A Dash of Sugar and Spice 

1 1/2 cups kimchee, chopped 

1 cup of Portuguese sausage, diced (see note) 

2 cups cooked rice, heated 

2 tablespoons kimchee juice, as needed (see note)

1 teaspoon sesame oil 

1 teaspoon sesame seeds 

Black pepper 

2 eggs

Scallions for garnish, chopped, optional

1. In a large frying pan over medium heat, brown the Portuguese sausage until edges are brown and crispy. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel lined plate; set aside.

2. Remove some of the sausage fat from the pan, leaving about one or two tablespoons. Add the chopped kimchee to the pan and sauté them well until nice and tender, about 1-2 minutes. Add rice and mix well with the kimchee. Add the kimchi juice to moisten the fried rice (see note). Continue to stir until heated through.

3. Turn off the heat. Add sesame oil, sesame seeds, and the sausage; mix well. Season with black pepper and toss in scallions.

4. In a small skillet, fry eggs sunny side up or over easy (whichever you prefer). Place on top of the fried rice. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• *Original recipe calls for 4-6 strips of bacon, I used Portuguese sausage instead because that's what I had on hand.  
• *Original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce. I didn't need the soy sauce because of the good kimchee.  Add soy sauce to suit your taste.
• *Take care when adding the kimchee juice.  If your kimchee is really wet, you might not need to add the juice.  Nothing's worse than soggy fried rice!