Jjimdak is one of the most popular chicken dishes in Korea.
I would say it ranks as the second most popular chicken dish in Korea, after Korean-style fried chicken. The dish originates from a Korean city called Andong, but is now ubiquitous in Korea. Walk around Seoul and you will see many speciality stores serving Jjimdak.
The dish is salty and slightly sweet from the flavored soy sauce so you should eat it with a bowl of hot rice. The two pair well together and create a very satisfying meal. If you have some kimchi sitting in the refrigerator, bring that out as well and it will help refresh you palate after each bite.
Key taste variable: Sugar
Since we are using a lot of soy sauce, we need to balance out the salty flavor. Use three tablespoons of sugar to give the sauce an undertone of sweetness. (Also, if you like garlic, you can add this flavor to the soy-sauce. I didn't include in the video but feel free to add in the last step when you add the noodles in)
Jjimdak - Soy Sauce Braised Chicken
Ingredients
- Chicken - 1 Whole 600-800 grams, or use only drumsticks, thighs only
- Dangmyeon noodles Korean sweet potato noodles - 400 grams
- Carrot - ⅓ whole
- Onion - ¼ whole
- Potato - 1-2
- Spring onion - 1 stalk
Braising Sauce
- Water - 2.5 cups
- Soy sauce - ¾ cup
- Ground coffee - 1 Tablespoon
- Sugar - 3 Tablespoons
- Corn syrup or honey - ⅓ cup
- Minced garlic - 2 Tablespoons optional
Instructions
Prep Ingredients
- Soak sweet potato noodles into water. Soak chicken into water. Let both sit in the water for 45 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, roughly cut potatoes, onions, spring onions and carrots.
- Soak potatoes in water as well to get rid of excess starch.
- After 45 minutes, strain noodles, chicken and potatoes. Set aside.
Boil Chicken
- Put chicken into a large pot. Then place water, soy sauce and ground coffee into the pot. Bring pot to a roaring boil.
- Skim the surface with a ladle and get rid of residual oil and scum.
- Add sugar and corn syrup into broth. Then place in the potatoes, carrots and onions.
- Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. (Don't lift the lid).
Finish Cooking
- After 10 minutes, add noodles and spring onions (Optional: Also add in minced garlic for more flavor).
- Close the lid and cook for an additional three minutes. Eat with rice.
Notes
- We will use (black) ground coffee to give the sauce a dark tint. It makes the dish much more appetizing.
- Put a lid on while you cook - this will ensure that the potatoes and carrots are fully cooked.
- See video below for more details
Nyasha says
Nice, I will have to try this recipe! It always seems really hard to make as there is a lot of ingredients but you explained it so well! Haha I hope I can make it as yours look!
If you have the time, I hope you can check out and comment on my latest Korean food post focusing on Wicked Jjimdak's well, Jjimdak! http://nyamwithny.com/the-best-jjimdak-is-at-wicked-jjimdak/ I feel like it has a bit of a spicy touch so it's great to recommend to others!
J Y CHUNG says
Omit the water. Everything else is fine.
MrGallards says
Hi Daniel, I just got back from Korea not too long ago, and I remember there being some spice to the Jjimdak in Andong. If I wanted to add some spice, what do you think is the pepper/paste/oil/etc that would be used in the traditional recipe? Thanks in advance!
Daniel says
Hi Gallards! Cool - so you got to taste the real thing. The traditional recipe would have some garlic and dried red chili peppers in it. Other than that, quite similar!
MrGallards says
Great, thank you! Yeah, been dreaming about that dish since I got back - hopefully I can do it some justice.