That’s right! Not only can I eat, but I can also cook (occasionally)! *beams proudly*
This weekend I had one of my extremely-rare-but-happily-relatively-free Saturdays! I had been meaning to cook myself a good meal for the past couple of weeks so I thought this was the day! I enjoy the occasional cooking adventure, but I really have to have the time for it and a clear recipe to follow (even though most of the time I end up running by the “close enough” mentality…). I also prefer to cook these bigger meals in the afternoon, as I tend to eat dinner rather late and having to do complex cooking late is not ideal (generally too hungry by that point haha)
This week I scanned my favourite source of Korean recipes, Korean Bapsang (who I’ve mentioned before) and I happened across something that looked truly delicious- Dakjjim, or Korean-style braised chicken! A quick scan of the recipe qualified it for my skill level, appliance-ownership and (with a quick additional shop) ingredient-readiness!
What I love about Korean Bapsang is that she makes everything super user friendly. She introduces you to the meal, uses “normal” ingredients and breaks down the process super simply! Perfect for a novice like me! Although you do have to do some conversions as she uses American measurements.
I followed her recipe fairly closely, with the following variations
- I didn’t buy a chicken because cutting up chicken is icky. Instead I opted for the pre-packed Coles free-range diced chicken! Perfection!
- I only had about 500grams of chicken, although I did have more vegetables, so I tried to adjust the braising liquid to be about 2/3rds. I kind of just “guessed” and luckily it worked out in the end!
- No-one likes onion or ginger so I left those out (also didn’t add the optional chilli)
- I used enoki mushrooms instead of shittake
- For the liquid I used the recommended oyster sauce (not substituted extra soy sauce), mirin (rather than rice wine) and honey (rather than corn syrup)
- All the ingredients I either got from my cupboards, local Korean grocer (sweet potato noodles), Harris Farm or Coles
It took me about an hour and a half all up with prep and cooking time. I do need to get myself a bigger pot as it boiled over a couple of times, but overall it was a great success!! Look at this deliciousness:
Ok… it doesn’t look that pretty in the pot. But tasty!
I was originally worried that the sauce was going to be a bit too overpowering for me as I don’t really like things that are too… strong, haha. But this was perfect! The sauce really evened out amongst the mixture. The sweet potato (starch) noodles were AMAZING *.*
I’m definitely going to try this out again, and try to perfect it! It’s wonderful for winter, and it’s not too unhealthy (except for all that salt and sugar I suppose haha).
Serves four though? Hahaha… serves Kat ^.^
DASMUSICALKAT 