Home cooking: Slow cooker dakjjim

This recipe is a slow cooker adaptation of a classic Korean braised chicken dish -- dakjjim. With a slow cooker, it’s so much easier to make this moist and tender chicken that’s full of flavor. You throw the ingredients in the slow cooker and forget about it until the meat is fork tender and ready to be served. 

You don’t need to add any water or broth in addition to the sauce in the recipe. Slow cooking brings out a lot of natural juices from the meat and vegetables with little evaporation. You’ll end up with much more liquid than you started with.  

I like to cut up a whole chicken into serving pieces for this dish, but you can buy cut-up chicken if you like. Bone-in and skin-on thighs and drumsticks will be the best because they lend much more juice and flavors to the sauce.

Dakjjim is typically braised in a sweet and savory sauce. It gets the spicy kick from fresh or dried hot peppers. You can always leave them out if you or your kids don’t care for spicy food.

4 servings

Ingredients:

1 medium size chicken cut up (about 1.2 kilograms of cut pieces)
2 medium potatoes, cut into large chunks
1 medium carrot, cut into large chunks
1/2 large onion, cut into large chunks
4 – 5 shiitake mushroom caps, cut into large chunks
4 – 5 plump garlic cloves
3 – 4 thin ginger slices
2 – 3 dried whole red chili peppers (or green chili peppers or jalapenos)
2 scallions

Sauce:

1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce (or 2 more tablespoons soy sauce.)
3 tablespoons rice wine (or mirin)
2 tablespoons honey (or 2 to 3 more tablespoons brown sugar)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Clean and cut the chicken into small pieces. Trim off excess fat. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken and vegetables, except scallions, in the slow cooker. Pour in the sauce and toss everything well. (You can prepare ahead of time up to this point and keep it in the fridge.) 

Cover, and cook for about 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Stir to rotate the chicken over midway through the process, if you’re home. 

Stir in the scallions, sesame oil, and sesame seeds with a few minutes remaining, or see the optional step below.

Optional Step:

Transfer to a large pot. Cook, uncovered, over high heat until the liquid is reduced and slightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the scallions, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Turn the heat off as soon as the scallions are slightly wilted.

For more recipes visit www.koreanbapsang.com.

By Ro Hyo-sun