Spicy Chicken and Potato Stew

Spicy Chicken Stew

Trust me - it tastes much, much better than it looks! So this is Ros' rendition of the Korean spicy chicken one pot dish - 'Dak Jorim' but I shall not make any references to its Korean origins since I worry that I may offend my Korean friends. :) Anyway, this is a delicious one-pot dish that is guaranteed to satisfy, if you have a craving for spicy chicken on a cold winter day. The stewing process takes an hour, but aside from that, the preparation time is minimal.

Level: Intermediate

Time to Cook  - 1 hr 15mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs chicken
• 2 large potatoes (sliced into 0.5 inch thick)
• 2 carrots (sliced cross sectionally into 0.5 inch thick)
• 1 medium sized leek (insides cleaned and cut cross sectionally 1 inch thick)
• 2 sliced fresno pepper or 5 chili padi (sliced)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5 tbsp Korean Chili paste
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 - 3 tbsp peanut oil to fry chicken.
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• (Optional) 1 small bundle of dried vermicelli (soaked in water until cooked)

Preparation

1. Clean the chicken, season with salt and pepper.

2. Pan fry each side for 2 to 3 minutes. The chicken should just be browned on both sides, but not necessarily cooked at this stage.

3. When chicken is done, pour excess oil out of the wok, but be sure to leave sufficient oil in the wok to cook the sauce.

4. In a bowl, mix Korean chili paste, chopped garlic and fresh chilies, salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil.

5. Panfry the sauce in the wok for 2-3minutes.

6. Put the chicken back in the wok and mix with the sauce.

7. Put in the sliced potatoes, carrots and leek in the wok and mix.
8. Add enough water in the wok to cover the majority of the ingredients as per below.
9. Let the ingredients cook - first at high heat until the water boils.

10. As the ingredients cook, the contents will reduce. Reduce heat to medium. Add more water in the wok if necessary

11. After 30minutes, ingredients should wilt and look like this. 

12. The potatoes, carrots and leeks may be removed as soon as they are cooked to prevent overcooking.

13. Continue to cook in medium/low heat until chicken cook. 

14. Adjust flavor to taste - which means that you may want to add more soy sauce or sugar to balance the flavor.
15. Drain the water from the vermicelli, and add the vermicelli when the dish is cooked. The vermicelli will soak some of the gravy.

16. Serve with steamed rice. Enjoy!


Copyrighted delimilli 2011