닭 (dak) = chicken
갈비 (galbi) = ribs
So... 닭갈비 = chicken ribs?
You'd think so, and so did I for the first 20 years of my life.
But it turns out that there are no ribs at all in Chuncheon Dakgalbi, or Spicy Chicken Stir Fry. But don't worry - it's got enough as it is.
Chicken thigh fillets. Spicy gochujang sauce. Rice cakes. Sweet potato. Cabbage. Onion. Spring onion.
And when it's all put together, it looks like this.
The dish is named after the city of Chuncheon, located 75km north-east of Seoul. In the tough times of the Korean War days, a smarter person than myself came up with the idea of mixing chicken (which was expensive) with vegetables and rice cakes to fill the whole family up.
In the 60 years since, this spicy chicken has become synonymous with the city of Chuncheon - there's even a street full of restaurants named after Dakgalbi!
The tradition is to cook all the ingredients together in a cast iron wok or skillet, eat straight out of the big wok/skillet, then cook fried rice in the leftover sauce to properly fill up.
I've tried and failed to eat all that in one go, so I'd suggest leaving the sauce and cooking the fried rice the next day!
Here's the view before everything is mixed together... it might look messier but it'll smell and taste far better. Try it out yourself!
Comments