Sunday, October 7, 2018

Cooking: 닭갈비 Dak Galbi


Don't let the unflattering photos here fool you- Dak Galbi is a Korean spicy chicken stir-fry that is incredibly delicious! Smokey, spicy and sweet gochujang, crispy cabbage and carrots, chewy rice cakes and juicy, mouth-watering chicken cooked up quick in a searing hot pan is a dish you'll find yourself craving quickly after trying once or twice. I first sampled it at a small restaurant in Dongdaemun area and have needed a fix every few months ever since, it's seriously that good. You can add more honey or sweetener to balance the heat and bring it back from the borderline inedible heat I prefer, but to each their own. There's a ton of different recipes out there, though I tend to read over a bunch and create my own amalgamation or take based on the ingredients I have on hand (and those I forgot to pick up while at the market) and our taste preferences. I can eat a lot of spicy food without much of a complaint, but Antho's level of heat tolerance is a bit different than mine, so I generally tailor things to be more edible on his end. Even so, reigning myself in from full chili assault, it's often sniffling inducingly hot. These things. I can only imagine the damages I've done to his digestion over the years, but I have to give him credit for being open to trying things he might not have otherwise been open to in the past. When we first started dating he would barely touch a skosh higher heat level than mild, and now he's happily trying bites of my burritos when they're drenched in radioactive-orange habanero salsas! I'm proud of the guy and how much he's opened up to new experiences and foods over the years we've been together.  I can't wait to actually drag him out of the country with me and watch him try to eat live shrimp or squirming octopus tentacles fresh from the tank. Yum yum!


Dak galbi is one of those dishes that often comes to the table immaculately presented, only to be mixed together and become a big mass of textured red stuff. It's not the most appealing visual transformation, but it's delectable! When I ate the dish in Korea it was cooked at the table, so plumes of hot spicy chicken steam and hints of sweet onion would drift up and tantalize my senses before the food was properly cooked. The same effect is achieved by cooking on a very hot wok in a small studio apartment, though getting the smell out after may be more of a challenge. The restaurants that serve it typically have those industrial ventilation fans strategically placed above the tables so that most of the smoke is sucked away before it can permeate you and your clothes too heavily. 







맛있었습니다~!
💘
XOXO,
NAU

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