Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)
The origin of this dish is kindof shady! I always knew it as a dish with a long history since the Chosun Dynasty, where the wealthy liked to celebrate special occasions in a town called an-dong, which meant the “inner part of town”. BUT recently I found out that this might be a made-up story for the sake of giving it a story (there are no written records about this dish).
It seems that actually Jjimdak came about in the ‘80s in the chicken marketplace in the city of Andong, where a variety of ingredients came together according to the customers’ requests, and out came Jjimdak that became a widespread menu across South Korea.
Anyway, this is a delicious meal. I hope you enjoy, Jjimdak for two. (or for one, with leftovers for tomorrow)
Ingredients
1 cup of Chicken Thigh
3 Tbsp Soysauce
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp mirin
2 cup water
1 Potato
1/2 Onion
1 Carrot
3 cloves garlic, minced
few slices of pepper
handful of rice cakes
handful of glass noodles
scallions, for garnish
*optional: without this step, the dish will still taste great. but if you want to go the extra mile to remove any excess fat/ any smell of the chicken, blanch the chicken like this:
cut chicken into bite size and submerge in a pot of water
bring water to a boil, then discard the water
Now, go ahead and make the Jjim dak:
chop all veggies to bite-size
bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then add the chicken (cut into bite size)
add all the seasoning ingredients: soysauce, sugar, garlic, sesame oil, mirin.
boil for 10 minutes on high, and add the veggies and boil another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
add the frozen rice cakes, vermicelli noodles, boil another 6 minutes.
garnish with chopped scallions, and enjoy with a bowl of rice.
