When you go to Korean restaurants, you will perhaps sometimes see some tables with flat griddle in the middle of it. Those are usually used for barbecue or they usually call it Korean barbecue. They like to grill their meats such as pork, beef and chicken on the grill. Some of the meats are marinated, some are not.
Sharing from the Quick and Easy Korean cooking cookbook by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee – this spicy chili chicken or mae-un dak is a specialty of a Gyeonggi, a province of Korea. When you travel to one of the town in this province you can see practically every corner of the restaurant serve this dish. They all have a huge, fat griddles on the table. Once you sit down, the waitresses will pile on the ingredients, pour on the chili paste seasoning, and cook the dish right in front of you as you salivate in anticipation. Kinda like if you go for Hibachi grill at Japanese restaurants.
You can prepare this dish using this recipe by cooking it with an electric frying pan that you can set on the table or cook it in a large skillet or wok, which was what I did as I didn’t have electric frying pan.
The result was still delicious however. I’m always into anything spicy. You can of course always adjust the level of spiciness to your liking. This is such a simple dish to prepare 🙂
SPICY CHILI CHICKEN/MAE-UN DAK
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb skinless boneless chicken, cut into about 2-inch pieces
- 1 yam peeled and cut into thin strips about 2" long
- 1 small onion cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 zucchini cut into 1-inch cubes
- ¼ head cabbage cut into 1-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 green onion cut into 2-inch lengths
- 3 Tbsp Korean chili paste
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add the chicken, yam, onion, zucchini, cabbage, and garlic and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the green onion, chili paste, soy sauce, and sugar and cook for a couple of minutes or so
- Serve immediately with hot rice
