During the winter season, I love a warm, hearty bowl of comfort food. My girlfriend has been asking for my recipe of daktoritang, a Korean spicy chicken stew and ever since we chatted about it, I've been craving for it like mad! It's a quick and easy recipe, one of those 'throw it all in a pot' and 'sit back and relax' type of meals. Takes only about an hour total to make! Such a yummy dinner for any night of the week.

Daktoritang 닭도리탕 (Korean Spicy Chicken Stew)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Sushi rice

2 ½ pounds chicken thighs

2 large potatoes, cut into large chunks

2 carrots, chopped into ½ inch pieces

1 large onion, cut into 8 chunks

4 cloves garlic, crushed

¼ cup water

½ cup soy sauce

 2 tbsp white sugar

3-4 generous tbsp gochujang/Korean hot pepper paste

(adjust based on how spicy you want it!)

Directions

1.       Mix chicken, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic in a large pot over medium heat

2.       Pour in water and soy sauce

3.       Mix in sugar and pepper paste and bring to a boil

4.       Reduce to low and simmer covered, for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.

5.       Serve with sushi rice.

Cooked in gochujang (a Korean fermented red chili paste) along with vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions, it's a real hit for spicy lovers but what I love about this dish is the ability to be able to alter the hotness of the sauce. Growing up I remember seeing four different pots over the stove, straight up from Goldilocks, when my mother made this. One was extra spicy, one was regularly spiced, the third was mildly spiced, and the littlest pot was for, well, you know how the rest of this goes...

I love it spicy so I usually put in 4 heaping spoonfuls of gochujang in, however, if you would like it on the milder side, I'd recommend a generous 2 tablespoons for it. As for the chicken, you can use any part of the meat, just as long as it's close to 2.5 pounds. I really like chicken thighs, so I used boneless ones for this recipe.

You can get gochujang at any Asian market. They're also available online at Amazon and other similar places. If you have more questions about this stew, please comment below. I am always happy to hear and answer questions from my readers. You guys rock! TGIF and hope everyone has a nice weekend! Have a good one. :)

Love & xx's