「닭갈비」

Dakgalbi: a popular fiery Korean dish that took over the world… the ultimate spicy delight!

Dakgalbi is one of the best Korean recipes you can prepare at home. Why? Well, it is a spicy chicken and vegetables stir-fry dish served for a group of guests, dakgalbi is a great feast to share with family and friends. Instead of making it half chicken-half cheese, some variants even suggest covering the whole dish in pure melted cheese.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

Much like K-pop, enchanting the world with its charm, dakgalbi is slowly making its way to the top trendy Korean food lists together with the more famous BBQ and Bibimbap. As a matter of fact, during the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea (2018), dakgalbi even gathered attention among the athletes and the international press. Here in Japan, it has already become a quite known dish (ダッカルビ)…

Although it might look complicated, dakgalbi is definitely not difficult to cook. It is so easy to make that I end up preparing it for dinner almost every week! You basically dice all the ingredients, blitz the seasoning into a paste and then we’re good to go.

You can replace the suggested vegetables below with your favorite mix choice, pretty much anything goes well with this hot seasoning.

1. 300g of chicken breast
2. 2 garlic cloves
3. 1 thumb of ginger
4. 2tbsp of gochujang
5. 2tbsp of honey
6. 1tsp of red pepper powder
7. 1tbsp of rice wine
8. 25g of tteokbokki
9. 50g of cabbage, cut in large pieces
10. 25g of sweet potatoes, cut in large pieces
11. 25g of onion, cut in half moons
12. 6 perilla leaves
13. 200g of cheese
14. Soy sauce

1. Season the chicken with shoyu and leave it to marinate for a few minutes.
2. Combine gochujang, garlic, ginger,  honey, red pepper powder and the rice wine, blending everything until it become a paste.
3. Assemble the dish starting with the vegetables and the tteokbokki, then add the perilla leaves then finally leave the chicken on the top.
4. Add the seasoning paste over the dish.
5. Turn the heat on high. When the mixture start heating up, mix everything with a wooden spatula.
6. When the chicken is fully cooked, reduce the heat to low. Finally, set everything to one side and add the cheese to the other.
7. Serve the dish.

You can replace the chicken breast for chicken thighs, they have more fat but give the dish some extra kick.

This recipe is typically done using an iron cast pan for extra flavor.

When the meal is finished, add kimchi, rice and an egg to the pan in order to make a risotto with the leftovers.