Korean Spicy Braised Chicken (Dak-bokkeumtang)

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently on a Korean-cooking kick. This braised chicken recipe is not at all dissimilar from the pork recipe in the previous post- the ingredient lists for the two recipes feature a lot of the same items.


I turned to Maangchi again for this recipe, but made a few changes- I used skinned chicken legs and thighs instead of wings, and used some carrot as well as potato. Reading a few different variations for this recipe suggested to me that any cut of chicken would be OK to use. Maangchi used chicken wings, but I used what I had instead. I also prefer braised chicken dishes without skin, as I don't really like non-crispy chicken skin. In a few other recipes, carrot was used as well as potato, so I added that too. Other recipes also suggested daikon root, which would also be a nice addition.

I think this chicken stew is a great dish for colder weather- it is very comforting, but makes a change from the usual heavy casseroles that I associate with winter food (as much as I love them). It is quite a spicy dish, but not as spicy as the red colour of it would suggest.