Korean Chicken Rice Bowl.
Today, I'm going to teach you a simple rice bowl that you'll fall in love with... and it'll become a part of your weekday dinner rotation.
My favorite part is that it only takes 10 minutes - but tastes like it's been slow-cooked (nice).
Bookmark this recipe for home-alone nights!
First, you'll need two chicken thighs (skin-on!).
Then a small section of Korean Radish - it's called mu in Korean (무).
And a squeeze of Hot Mustard - known as yeon-gyuh-jah in Korean (연겨자).
(Note: This is the same hot mustard packed into Chinese take-out.)
At the Korean market, you'll find it in small tubes:
Pan-fry the slices of chicken thigh, so that it gets good coloring on the skin-side and releases its oils (this is the base flavor).
Next, add-in the thin pieces of mu - they'll release their refreshing juice into the oil.
We'll flavor that lovely mixture with thin slices of garlic and a dab of hot mustard (oh yea!)
Then finish with a splash of soy-sauce.
When you bring everything together - in heat - the spicy flavor of the hot mustard dies down and you're left with a delicious umami flavor.
Get all of that flavor onto a bowl of hot rice.
Key Cooking Notes for Korean Chicken Rice Bowl:
- It doesn't taste the same with chicken breast (no fat, no flavor). You really want to use skin-on, chicken-thighs.
- Cut the Korean radish into thin slices - so they cook through quickly in a stir-fry.
- Keep the heat on a medium level - that way, you get a nice color without burning.
- Garlic cloves are optional - but hey, why not throw in a few!
- You really want to use hot mustard (연겨자) - don't use wasabi. It'll be overwhelming!
- This Korean Chicken Rice Bowl produces a 2-person serving!
Katie tells me to stop frowning when I taste food... I'm working on it!
Neighbors - one thing.
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Ingredients
- 3 Skin-On, Chicken Thighs
- A small section of Korean Radish (~3.5 cm section)
- 2 Garlic Cloves (Optional)
Stir-fry Sauce
- 1 teaspoon(!) Hot Mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
Instructions
- Cut 3 Chicken Thighs into bite-sized pieces.
- Cut-off a small section (~3.5cm) of Korean Radish. Then cut this section into 4 pieces. Then cut each into thin pieces.
- Optional: Cut 2 garlic cloves into thin pieces.
Stir-fry ingredients
- Place some neutral oil into a wok or frying pan.
- Once the oil is hot, place-in the chicken pieces - skin-side facing down.
- Set heat to medium. Give the chicken pieces a few minutes to cook away, so the skin can release its oil and create good flavor.
- (Optional: After a few minutes, add in the garlic slices)
- After you get some browning on one-side, flip each chicken piece over and cook on the other side.
- After a few minutes, add in the Korean radish pieces.
- Stir-fry the chicken & radish together for a few minutes - or until the radish starts to sweat.
- Once the radish pieces start to turn translucent and get slight browning, add in the Hot Mustard (1 teaspoon).
- Then add-in Soy Sauce (1 Tablespoon). Add in a circular motion around the pan wall. This way the soy sauce can heat-up and develop a deeper flavor.
- Now stir-fry everything for 30 seconds ... or until everything is well mixed!
- Scoop the delicious ingredients over a bowl of freshly made rice.
- (Optional: You can add a dab of the hot mustard as a topping on the bowl)
- Bon Appetit!
Rexy says
Just made this dish tonight and it's delicious and amazing in its simplicity. I only had skinless thighs on hand, so I had 15% more difficulty flipping the chicken/stir-frying it. It's doable, but next time I'll probably use skin-on thigh.
This is definitely getting added into my dinner repertoire. If you don't have mu radish, plain daikon works. (That's what came in my CSA box. Black radishes also came in my box. I'm going to experiment with those next!)