Korean Gochujang Chicken Stir-Fry

Recipe and Write-up by Zahrah Hatraby

This recipe uses Korean gochujang, which is a thick chilli paste made from fermented soybean powder, glutinuous rice, rice syrup and gochugaru (hot pepper chilli powder). It gives a rich umami, sweet, spicy and almost smokey flavour when added to meat, rice, or vegetables. In comparison to other Asian chilli pastes, however, gochujang is not as spicy due to the nature of the type of chilli used to make the gochujaru and the addition of rice syrup!

The beauty of a stir-fry is that you can, quite literally, use any vegetables and meat to make it! Try experimenting with different vegetables that are in season, such as capsicums in spring or leeks and cauliflower in winter.

Ingredients:

Stir-fry

• 600 g skinless chicken thigh (around 3 large pieces), de-boned and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3-4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced (try using purple and yellow carrots for a more earthy and savoury flavour!)
• 1 capsicum, diced (I used ½ red and ½ green)
• 250 g button mushrooms, sliced (if available, try using oyster or shiitake mushrooms for a deeper umami flavour and chewy texture)
• 1 broccoli head, florets and stem diced, separated
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (any neutral tasting, high smoke point oil such as sunflower or corn oil works)
• 1 stalk of spring onion, green part chopped (optional)
• Roasted sesame seeds (optional)

Marinade/ Seasoning

• 2 tbsp gochujang paste
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ½ tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tbsp oyster sauce
• Black pepper powder (to taste)
• White pepper powder (to taste)

Method:

1. In a bowl, add the ingredients for the marinade to the chicken thigh pieces and mix well, ensuring all the pieces are well-coated. Set aside while preparing the other vegetables.
2. Heat ½ tbsp of the vegetable oil in a large wok or saucepan over high heat.
3. Add the sliced button mushrooms into the pan and allow to brown, tossing occasionally. Once browned, set aside.
4. Heat another ½ tbsp of vegetable oil in the same wok or saucepan over high heat.
5. Add the diced onions and allow to soften for about half a minute before adding the minced garlic.
6. Add the diced broccoli stem and diced carrot and fry for about 2-3 minutes.
7. Add in the marinated chicken pieces and let it brown on one side for about 1-2 minutes before flipping.
8. Add the mushrooms and lower the heat to medium, cover to cook until the chicken is almost cooked through. Taste for seasoning and add more gochujang paste or other seasoning if needed.
9. Add the diced capsicum.
10. Once chicken is thoroughly cooked (insides are white), remove from the heat, sprinkle chopped spring onion and toasted sesame seeds, and serve hot with short grain rice and banchan (side dishes) like seaweed and kimchi!

Variations/Notes:

• You may choose to use chicken breast/ fillets/ tenderloins to reduce the amount of saturated fat in the stir-fry! Do note that these cook faster than chicken thighs and tend to overcook more easily, so reduce the cooking time.
• To retain as much water-soluble and heat-sensitive nutrients from the broccoli florets, I usually blanch these quickly in boiling water for about 30 seconds to a minute, remove the boiling water, and replace with cold water until the broccoli florets are cold. The broccoli is then allowed to chill out over a sieve while I prepare other elements of the dish!
• I have made this recipe with beef slices and it gives a different overall profile! For a vegetarian-friendly variation, use diced tofu instead of chicken and add more mushrooms.
• For spice-lovers, you can add more chilli flakes or coarse gochugaru and/or gochujang to the stir-fry, or even replace some of the capsicum with hot chilli peppers (e.g., thai chilli padi/ bird’s eye chillies)
• This recipe gives enough for around 3 to 4 servings, making it perfect for a batch-cook for the rest of the week! It can easily be doubled to feed more hungry flatmates, too. The stir-fry freezes very well, too.
• Reduce your food waste (and money!) in this recipe by:
  • If you get bone-in chicken thigh or whole legs with skin, you can keep the bone to add to the stir-fry, to add more flavour and eat the meat that is left on the bone, too! Plus, per kilogram, buying bone-in chicken thigh is almost half the price of boneless chicken thigh cutlets! (at the time of this blog)
  • Lightly scrubbing the carrot and not peeling it. You are also retaining more nutrients by doing so!
  • Using the whole broccoli including the stem, which is very delicious when added into the stir-fry! If the outer skin of the stem is too fibrous, peel it and you will find a crunchy and yummy inner stem that can be diced and eaten.
  • Use the water from rinsing rice to water the garden or add it to any existing herb pots you have.
  • Don’t throw away the bottom half of the spring onion! Spring onions re-grow very easily by submerging the roots in a container like a glass jar, and soon you will have (almost) infinite spring onions to use whenever you like!
  • Cook an extra portion or two of rice and place into microwavable containers or ziploc bags in the freezer to have ready for more future meals.

Perfect for make ahead meals!