Chijeu-buldak (Fire Chicken with Cheese)

I will admit that this is my absolute favorite recipe so far! I think the cheese maybe the reason why. Cheese is one of my favorite ingredients and I happen to think it makes everything taste better. That must be the American inside me talking. I also really enjoy sauces, but I get that from my dad. He puts some sort of sauce on everything. Not having access to certain sauces, like ranch dressing, was the hardest part of living in England for me. I probably failed to mention this but I lived in England for year during college. It was the most amazing experience and I highly recommend studying abroad to everyone! If I was still in college now I would definitely study abroad in South Korea. I think living their would be so much fun! I'm slightly jealous that they can get food delivered 24/7 in Seoul. Come one California, we need to step up our food game!
This week my playlist will be all about EXO. This is in large part due to the fact that I spent most of yesterday at their concert in Los Angeles. It was so much fun and I will write a post for you about it later this week. I'm going to share with you 3 songs. These songs don't have music videos but the live performances are some of my favorites. The first song is Transformer. This song has a really great beat and is more focused on the rapping as opposed to singing in most of their songs. It has a more hip hop vibe and I love it. The next song is Playboy. This is one of their sexier songs. I think it's their dance moves to this that makes it my favorite and the leather pants don't hurt either. Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think. The last song is Heart Attack. This is one of my all time favorite songs from them. It is so fun, I love the beat and I really enjoy the style in which they perform it. It's a music video within a concert. Check it out here.
Now it's on to the recipe. If you like chicken, cheese and spicy things, then this my friends is the recipe for you! I got this recipe from Maangchi.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of chicken breast, cut into 3/4 or 1 inch cubes

1/2 cup hot pepper flakes (I used 1/4 to make it less spicy)

2 to 3 tablespoons gochujang (hot pepper paste)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup rice syrup (or corn syrup, sugar, honey)

6 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons ginger, minced

1 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces

1 cup of sliced rice cake

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 cup water

Step 1.

Combine hot pepper flakes, gochujang, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, black pepper, rice syrup, garlic and ginger together in a bowl. 

Step 2.

Add the chicken and mix well. 

Step 3.

In a skillet heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the rice cakes and fry them for a few minutes. Turning occasionally (I find that tongs are the easiest way to do this) cooking until they are crispy and light golden brown. 

Step 4.

Place the chicken into a heavy pan, preferably cast iron. (I used a regular frying pan) Use the water to rinse the bowl and get any remaining sauce into the pan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. If you used a regular frying pan like me it will take about 7 to 8 minutes. 

Step 5.

Uncover and stir the chicken with a wooden spoon. Add the rice cakes to the top of the chicken. Turn the heat to low. Cover and cook the chicken and rice cakes for another 10 minutes or until the chick is fully cooked. If you are using cheese turn on the oven broiler to pre-heat while the chicken cooks. (I was overly excited and forgot to get photo evidence of these steps)

Step 6.

If you used a cast iron skillet you can place the cheese directly on top of the chicken and place in the oven. Since my pan has a plastic handle I transferred my chicken to an oven safe dish and covered with the pieces of mozzarella. 

Step 7.

Place the chicken in the oven and let cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Step 8.

Remove and sprinkle with green onion. Then it's ready to serve.

I ate this with rice and it was amazing. I think the cheese and rice cakes add nice flavor and texture to the dish. I'm so glad I didn't put a 1/2 cup of red pepper flakes because then it would have been too hot for me. This was just the right amount of spice for me. I also shared this dish with a few friends and they loved it. I think this may be my biggest culinary success yet! Thank you Maangchi for the recipe. 

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks adventure. Keep your eyes peeled for my EXO post later this week. Do you have any recipes you think I should try? Let me know in the comments below. Have a great week!

XOXO,

Rachel 

Tteokbokki (Spicy Stir-fried Rice Cakes)

Hey there! Welcome back! This week I have decided to make Tteokbokki. This was one of the recipes they made in the Try Guys video. It looked interesting and fun to make so I thought I'd try it out. From what I understand Tteokbokki is a popular Korean street food and I can see why. This dish is spicy, filling and all around amazing. The main ingredient of this dish is garaetteok, which is a cylinder-shaped white rice cake. While the rice cake can seem so simple I think it is one of the coolest ingredients. I also like to make brown or white rice to go with the Tteokbokki. I know, it's a lot of rice but that's the way I like it.
And of course we need a playlist to go with the cooking! This week I went with some more BIGBANG. Since this is street food I felt their track We Like 2 Party was fitting. It's such a fun song and makes me want to spend time with friends doing crazy things. I also really love the music video. It's different than their usual music videos in that it has a more relaxed vibe. It's like they invited you in and showed you a little bit of their world. Enjoy! Now just imagine me rapping along to T.O.P's part and cooking. Fun, right? Although, my hair will never be on T.O.P's level, his hair is always on point. #HairGoals.
In addition to BIGBANG I also decided to listen to EXO. EXO recently did a collaboration with Star Wars and released a new track called LIGHTSABER. I think it's a fun track and the garaetteok are kind of like little chubby lightsabers. EXO was the first Kpop group whose music I really enjoyed. I think it may be because I'm nostalgic for the boy band days. EXO makes fun, catchy songs with amazing dance moves to go with it. Normally their videos showcase their awesome dance routines, however, the video for LIGHTSABER is different and it doesn't feature all 9 members but I enjoyed the Star Wars theme. Overall it's a cool video.
Ok now on to the actual cooking! This recipe so from the Korean Bapsang's blog. I really enjoy her recipes and I find that they are easy to follow.

Ingredients

1 pound tteokbokki tteok (about 24 3-inch long rice cake pieces)
1 sheet of eomuk (fried fish cake)
4 ounces green cabbage
1-2 scallions
3 cups anchovy broth (or water)
3 tbsp of gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste)
1-3 tsp gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper flakes) amount depends on how hot you would like the dish.
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Step 1.
Make the anchovy broth. I had some left over from my previous recipe so I used that. While you are making the anchovy broth and cutting vegetables let your rice cakes soak in water for about 20 minutes.

Step 2.
Cut up the cabbage, scallions and fish cake. I usually use two sheets of the fried fish cake instead of one. I also like to cut it into triangular pieces so it looks nice :)

Step 3.
In a large pant add the anchovy broth, gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, sugar and garlic. Bring to a boil over medium heat, mixing all the ingredients together until the gochujang is dissolved.

Step 4.
Add the rice cakes and bring to a boil once more. Allow this to cook for another 8-10 minutes or until the rice cakes have become very soft and the sauce has thickened. Make sure to stir it so the rice cakes don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Step 5.
Add the vegetables and fish cakes to the mix. Continue to boil until everything is cooked. About 4-6 minutes. You can taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as need. I don't usually change the seasoning but that might be different for you. Add the sesame oil and sesame seeds right before turning of the heat.

Now it is ready to serve! In the recipe she mentioned that this dish doesn't reheat in the microwave very well and to heat it up on the stove with some anchovy broth. While I think it would probably taste better that way, I have reheated it in the microwave and it was still delicious.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I greatly appreciate your support! Let me know if you have any suggestions on what I should make next. I look forward to connecting with you all next time. Have a great week!

Xoxo,
Rachel