Tag: korean food
Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

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Brrrrr… getting chilly out there.  While I love summer, I do look forward to winter.  As the temperature drops I start dreaming of dishes that warm the body and soul.  Soup bowls and spoons that have languished on the shelf all summer are now front and center, waiting to be filled.  Soups, rice bowls, stews, nabes,  dumplings, noodles, and casseroles are always in the winter rotation.  Comfort food with a capital C.

Some of my favorite casseroles or soups don’t require hours on the stove, this is one of them, Jjim Dak or Korean Braised Chicken.  Jjim Dak is a hearty chicken, vegetables, and glass noodle dish that comes together in an hour.  It’s flexible in terms of ingredients (which mean any veggie you have hiding in your crisper is fair game), and filling due to the addition of potatoes and glass noodles.  A TikTok video for this dish caught my attention so I headed to my favorite Korean recipe site, http://Koreanbapsang.com.  A quick search of her site and bada bing, bada boom…I found her recipe for Korean braised chicken.

Let’s get to it…Bowl Food is Soul Food

This is a very flexible recipe. The foundation is chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms and chili.  Braise the chicken in soy sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of sugar and mirin.  This is an easy one-pot meal that comes together quickly and is guaranteed to chase the chilly weather away.

Use chicken thighs or drumsticks, preferably bone-in and cut into large bite-size pieces.  You can use boneless but you run the risk of overcooking the chicken while braising the vegetables.  You can find cut bone-in pieces of chicken at most Asian markets.  If you cut it yourself make sure to rinse the chicken after chopping for bone fragments.

Veggie So Many Choices, So Little Time…Cause I’m Hungry

Traditionally, this dish has the usual suspects, carrots, potatoes, onions, and scallions.  Feel free to add whatever you like and it will be divine.  I added mushrooms, Korean radish, and Korean radish leaves (so excited when I saw the tops on the radishes at the market).  Hands down yummy.  So add whatever you like, including KALE (nooooo, can’t believe I wrote that).  Cut the veggies in smaller bites due to quick cooking time.  In fact, if using boneless chicken, I would dump everything in at once and not cook the chicken first.  Make it in advance, if you can, to let the flavors develop.

The glass noodles take this over the top.  They add texture, flavor (the noods suck up the flavor from the sauce, chicken and veggies-yummo) and substance to the dish. You can find mung bean noodles or glass noodles at most Asian stores.  Do not confuse it with rice noodles or vermicelli.  Pre-soak noods to soften, drain well before adding.

The sauce ingredients are readily available. Use  Korean soy sauce or Kikkoman which are a bit more similar to each other than Chinese soy sauces.  I could go down a rabbit about soy sauces…. Oyster Sauce, as always, my go-to is Lee Kum Kee with the lady and boy in the boat label.

Don’t forget the bap 🍚!

There you go, a delicious one-pot meal.

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Jjim Dak

Braised chicken with assorted veggies, perfect for dish for chilly nights
Course comfort food
Cuisine Korean
Prep Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • Prep Time
  • 20minutes mins
  • Cook Time
  • 30minutes mins
  • Total Time
  • 50minutes mins

Ingredients

The Stars

  • 1 medium-sized chicken cut up (2.5 to 3 pounds of cut pieces)
  • 3 ounces sweet potato starch noodles dangmyeon, 당면
  • 2 medium white or yukon gold potatoes about 10 ounces
  • 1 medium carrot 1/4 inch slices on diagonal
  • 1/2 medium onion cut in half and sliced 1/4-inch thick
  • 3 - 4 mushroom caps rehydrated dried shiitake or fresh shiitake, white, or baby bellas
  • 2 scallions
  • 2 - 3 dried whole red chili peppers optional, mild use 1
  • 1 - 2 fresh chili peppers or jalapenos optional
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger

Braising Liquid

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce If unavailable, use more soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine or mirin
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar if unavailable, use regular sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons corn syrup Korean jocheong (rice syrup), Oligodang (oligo syrup), or 2 to 3 tablespoons honey Adjust to taste or agave would probaly work
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Finishing

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  • Soak the starch noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Drain well before using.
  • Clean chicken and cut into small to medium-sized pieces.
  • Cut the potatoes in chunks (about 1-1/2 inch), soak them in water while preparing the other vegetables. Cut the carrot (1/4-inch slices), mushrooms, and onion into bite-sized pieces.
  • Add the chicken pieces to a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over the chicken. (You should reduce the amount of water if not using the noodles.) Add the sauce ingredients except sesame oil and seeds. Bring it to a boil over high heat, uncovered, and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Skim off the foam.
  • Add the potatoes, carrot, mushrooms, onion, dried whole red chili peppers, garlic and ginger. Cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. There may still be a lot of liquid, but the potatoes and starch noodles will soak up a lot of it.
  • Stir in the green chili peppers (if using), and glass noodles. Continue to cook, uncovered this time, for an additional 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil. Garnish with sesame seeds, scallions. Serve immediately.
Jangjorim (Soy Braised Beef 장조림)

Jangjorim (Soy Braised Beef 장조림)

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I have a total backlog of recipes I want to share with you and this one is top of the list.  I have made this as many times as I have made Eric Kim’s Quick Grape Tomato Banchan or Ottolenghi’s Charred Tomato and Cold Yogurt (so good) and that is saying a lot.

Do You Banchan?

Jangjorim or Soy Braised Beef can be served as banchan (those yummy little dishes that come with every Korean meal) or as a topping to a rice bowl or in a bento box.

I’m not a salad lover. Well, let me rephrase that, I’m not a salad maker…so much trouble.  But banchan? Worth the trouble, I’ll make a batch of each, keep them in the fridge and pull ’em out for lunch and/or dinner.  They go with everything, rice, noodles, or sammies.  Want a little funkiness in your grill cheese, add kimchi (김치).  Want crunch and spice in your noodles, add spicy cucumbers (오이무침).  Pickled or braised veggies go so well with rice, maybe that’s why I like them.

Koreanbapsang’s recipe for Jangjorim is my starting point.  First step, make the stock to cook the meat.  The stock includes onions, scallions, garlic and Korean radish (mu,무).  The radish gives the dish sweetness, I save the radish to serve with the Jangjorim.  It’s delicious.

Shank-alicious

Next, cut beef into cubes and simmer in the stock.  Use brisket, flank, chuck, or my favorite, shank.  Shank is both flavorful and economical, win-win.  For those not familiar with shank, it comes cut crosswise into pieces with the bone in the center.  Remove the meat from the bone and cut it into pieces. Throw the bones into the cooking broth for extra flavor.  I’ve also used pork shoulder or butt as a substitute with nods of approval from the fam.  After simmering, remove the meat and place it in another pot along with 2.5 cups of the original stock and add the seasonings.  Reserve the radish.  Cook meat on medium heat for approximately 20 minutes.  Then add shishito peppers, boiled, peeled eggs, kelp (optional), and the reserved radish. Cook for another 10 minutes or until meat is tender.

Shishito peppers can be a bit spicy, so if you have little kids or big kids that are spice averse, use bell peppers or Anaheim peppers, and cut into manageable bite-sized pieces.  Cook eggs as you would six-minute ramen eggs.  Chill eggs thoroughly before final braising to avoid overcooking the eggs.  Normally, the eggs are hard-boiled but jammy eggs are my jam.

Jangjorim can be served at room temperature to warm as banchan or over rice.  The meat can be shredded or sliced.  It’s so flavorful, a little bit goes a long way.

I love this dish and hope you will try it!

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Jangjorim (Soy braised Beef)

Jangjorim or Soy braised Beef, adapted from Korean Bapsang, is a delicious Korean side dish that works well in a bento box too!
Course Meat, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Banchan, Korean, shishito peppers
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Da Stars

  • 1.5 pounds shank meat or beef brisket you can sub pork shoulder or butt
  • 10 to 12 Shishito peppers or other fresh green peppers Use less and cut into halves if using large peppers
  • 3 boiled eggs* peeled

Da Stock

  • 1/2 medium yellow onion
  • 2 stalks scallions white part only save green parts for garnish
  • 6 ounces Korean radish (about 1/4-1/3 of one radish) mu, cut into big chunks
  • 7 cloves garlic
  • 3 slices thin ginger about 1-inch round
  • 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppers or ground peppers to taste

Da Sauce

  • 5 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soup soy sauce guk ganjang, 국간장 (or use more regular soy sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons rice wine or mirin
  • 1 piece 3-inch square dried kelp substitute a bay leaf

Instructions

  • Cut the beef into 2-inch chunks. This recipe is very flexible. You use brisket or flank. I love beef beef shank which is very economical. It has great flavor and texture. You could even use pork shoulder or butt. Delicious!
  • In a medium pot, bring 8 cups of water and Da Stock ingredients to a boil. Cover and continue to boil for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
  • Drop the meat into the pot. Bring it to a gentle boil, and remove the scum. Reduce the heat to medium. Boil, covered, for about 30 minutes.
  • Remove the meat. Strain the cooking liquid into a large bowl, and then add 2.5 cups of the liquid back to the pot. (You can save the remaining broth to make a soup or stew later.)
  • Add the meat and sauce ingredients to the pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, and boil, covered, until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced to about ⅓, about 20 minutes. You can cook longer if the meat is still not tender enough.
  • Add the optional dried kelp, peppers and eggs and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Discard the kelp, and transfer everything else to an airtight container for storage. Cool before storing in the fridge. Shred the meat and pour some sauce over to serve.
  • Optional: Serve the radish and onions with this dish! Normally, the meat is shredded, and served with shishito peppers and eggs.

Notes

Refrigerate in an airtight container. It will keep for a week. If you want to keep it longer, boil the meat and sauce again after a few days.
The meat will become hard in the fridge. You can soften it by leaving the shredded beef out at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, or microwave for about 20 seconds to soften.