Braised Korean Chicken Thighs
It is getting cold up here in Maine. It’s been cold, but this weekend was bitterly cold and windy. Instead of going for the 8-mile walk, I’d planned yesterday, I only went out for about half of that distance and spent the rest of the weekend inside cleaning, cooking, and organizing.
On Saturday, I gave Erin McDowell’s Yeast Donut recipe a try. I have never made donuts until now and I have to admit, the process is MUCH easier than I would have thought. These are yeasted donuts so they need time to rise, a lesson I learned with the first batch. I made the dough Friday night and let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight but didn’t let them rise long enough in the morning so they came out a little dense at first. I took a break from frying and came back a couple of hours later and the dough was puffy and light. A few minutes in boiling hot oil and voila!
The week ahead will come and go like any other for us. We don’t have many plans these days thanks to COVID. It is both a blessing and a curse. The upside to being isolated like this? We’re saving money we would otherwise be spending at restaurants and bars. The downside? We haven’t seen our friends in over a month and I’m feeling restless. Fortunately, we have a house that needs fixing up.
I’m thinking I’ll make this Braised Korean Chicken this week. I went through a phase for a few years when all I wanted was Korean chicken. There’s something about the sweet, spicy, umami flavors that I just couldn’t break from. While I haven’t been cooking with Gochujang as much as I once did, I still have a nice fat jar of it in the fridge, begging to be whipped out.
I revived some sourdough starter over the weekend. Before I left for the island last spring, I divided my existing starter in half. One half came to the island with me while the other was dried and bagged for safekeeping, just in case the other half didn’t make it through the summer. And guess what? That starter that came to the island with me didn’t make it after all. As it turns out, running a restaurant, in the middle of a pandemic, while living with my entire family under one roof is not a good time to try making sourdough bread.
To revive this starter, I took some, ground it up in the food processor, and soaked it in warm water until it dissolved. I then fed it equal weights of water and flour for a few days until some bubbles appeared. We’re on day 3 as of Monday morning and it is looking bubbly and smelling pleasantly sour. Success, I think.
I’m working on some other recipes this week as well. Red Beans and Rice, Flank Steak Spring Rolls, Blueberry-Ricotta Pancakes, and maybe a special cookie of some kind.
Aside from food, I’ve been working on renovating our kitchen and have reached the point of no return. It is time to start doing some demolition work. I’d normally jump right in on a project like this but because it is our kitchen, I have to be strategic about how and when I do demolition work; who wants drywall dust in their yogurt? We’ll see how this goes.
Braised Korean Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
3 T Honey
3 T gochujang
1 cup chicken broth
¼ C soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 t sesame oil
1 T minced ginger
1 T minced garlic
6 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
lime wedges, for garnish
sliced green onion, for garnish
toasted sesame seed, for garnish
Directions
Combine the honey, gochujang, chicken broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper to taste and place, skin-side down in a cold, Dutch oven.
Cook the chicken thighs over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Transfer the thighs to a plate and set aside.
Add more oil, if necessary, and sauté the onion until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Return the chicken to the skillet and add the honey-gochujang mixture. Cover and simmer, turning occasionally until the cooked through, about 25 – 30 minutes
Remove the chicken and reduce the sauce by 1/3.
If you want to crisp up the skin, place the thighs on a cookie sheet and briefly broil on high.
Garnish the chicken with sesame, lime, and green onions.
