Kevin Cooks: Jjimdak (Korean Soy Braised Chicken)
My mom is not a great cook.
Now, before you all grab your pitchforks, I want to emphasis that my mom is the hardest working woman I have ever met. She works full time, leaving the house before I would wake up for school. She would get home late, often times after 6pm. And after a long, thankless day, she would come home and make dinner for her hungry family right away. No break, no complaints, but simply have a whole planned meal ready to start. She never took the easy way out by buying take out; it was too expensive and unhealthy she believed. She was truly one of the hardest working people I’ve met and the best mom I could ask for.
But she is objectively not a great cook.
One dish, however, she always did well in my 'humble’ opinion, was jjimdak. It’s an asian chicken stew with various vegetables and sweet potato glass noodle braised in a delicious soy based broth. Although it has its origins in Andong, a city in Korea, my Chinese mom perfected it. It was one of the few dishes in her repertoire I didn’t ungratefully express disappointment in, and now I would like to share it with you.
Jjim Dak
Ingredients:
2-4 chicken thighs
Sweet potato starch noodles
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1 red onion
2 scallions
4 garlic gloves
1 teaspoon of minced ginger
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
Grounded black pepper
Broth
3 cups of water (or substitute low sodium chicken stock)
1/2 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of rice wine
2 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
Start by cutting your chicken, potatoes, carrots, and red onion into cubes.
Add your chicken into a large pot and add your 3 cups of water or chicken stock. Add the rest of your broth ingredients and give it a quick stir. Bring the whole pot to a boil and continue to bowl it for 10 minutes.
Afterwards, add your potatoes, carrots, and red onion into the pot. Continue to cook while covered for another 10 minutes until the potatoes begin to soften.
Once potatoes are soft, add your noodles and scallion. Continue to cook uncovered until your noodles soften. Stir in sesame oil and add ground black pepper to taste.
