Special thanks goes out to my friend Alice for sharing this recipe with me. As I’m learning to make foods from other cuisines, it’s so interesting to me that most cultures have very similar ways of preparing dishes with many common ingredients, yet they can taste so distinctly different! This is no exception. My mom makes a version of braised chicken with potatoes with soy sauce, garlic, and green onions, but this is more saucy and feels more like a one pot meal.
Dakdoritang: Korean Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes, optional
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 red chili peppers, coarsely chopped (optional)
- 1-2 lbs bone-in chicken legs, thighs or both
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 medium potatoes, diced into 1″ chunks
- 3 medium carrots, diced into 1″ chunks
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 3 green onions, sliced into 3″ pieces
Instructions
- Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar, chili pepper flakes, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Rinse chicken, pat dry with a paper towel, and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Fry chopped fresh red chili peppers in cooking oil over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add chicken and brown on all sides. Remove any peppers previously added.
- Add potatoes, carrots, garlic, ginger, sauce, water and stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
- Add green onions (slice into 3 inch lengths and cut straight down into long thin slices).
- Taste sauce and add more sugar or soy sauce to your desired sweet/saltiness.
- Serve with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
Variations of Braised Chicken
Looking for something a little more savory? My mom makes a version that is just soy sauce, water, green onion. With 1-2 lbs of chicken you just need about 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 2 bunches of green onions sliced in to 2″ pieces and sliced vertically, and 2 tbsp of water.
My mother-in-law’s recipe for Pai Gu Rou (Braised Meat) is also very simple. It has a few more ingredients than my mom’s but follows a fun little 5-4-3-2-1 ingredient list. She typically makes it with pork ribs but also has followed the same recipe with chicken.
Hilda’s Chinese Braised Short Ribs is again also very simple with just two ingredients – dark rice wine and soy sauce. Use pork, use chicken – it’s all good!
