Korean culture has been in vogue for a few years now, thanks to music, movies and not least, the food of that country. Two things stand out in the Korean way of looking at food: the pepper and the chili softening drink.
Koreans love to drink and eat spicy things.
So today’s recipe is a Korean bar snack. The bulldog, an expression that literally means “fire chicken” – then you can already imagine what to expect from this series.
Reproducing Korean cuisine can be difficult because of the ingredients. Much of the recipe is based on prepared foods and spices, traditionally prepared at home and today more commonly found in the industrial version.
In São Paulo, where the Korean community is large, there are markets where you can buy these ingredients – especially in the neighborhoods of Bom Retiro, Aclimação and Liberdade.
The “fire” in the bull roof comes from something called gochujang: fermented soybean paste, chili peppers, and various other briquettes. In this recipe I experimented with miso and red pepper. It works, but it’s a workaround. If you can buy real gochujang, do so.
In addition to the miso and pepper, I used honey, garlic and hot paprika – these go in to enhance the characteristic red color of gochujang. You can also use sweet paprika depending on your taste for pepper. There is no point in suffering with something that is too spicy just to play to be authentic.
Another very peculiar ingredient is tteok, a type of rice dough with a firm and elastic consistency. Also found in Korean grocery stores, there is no similar that can yield an improvisation.
If you don’t get the tteok, you can just leave it out. Or add boiled green corn – this is a fairly common extra for the bull roof in bars in Bom Retiro.
The version of the flaming chicken that follows also has mozzarella au gratin. This is chijeu bulldog, or, in common Americanism, cheese bulldog.
Important: this recipe does not use salt because miso, soy sauce and gochujang have a very high sodium content.
The beast is spicy, so don’t forget to chill a few beers before cooking.
CHEESE BULLDAK
Yield: 2 servings
Difficulty: medium
Ingredients:
For the pepper paste
50 g miso
1 crushed garlic clove
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons hot or sweet paprika
2 tablespoons of honey or glucose syrup
for the chicken
200 g boneless and skinless drumsticks, in cubes or strips
2 tablespoons gochujang or chili paste
3 crushed garlic cloves
½ teaspoon (coffee) black pepper
1 tablespoon shoyu
1 teaspoon(s) grated ginger
1 tablespoon glucose syrup or sugar
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
½ cup boiling water
50 g sliced tteok (or ½ can of cooked and drained corn)
100 g of mozzarella
Green onion to taste
Way of doing
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If you are making the chili paste, mix the ingredients the day before and store in the refrigerator.
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Heat the oven to maximum temperature (use the grill function if possible).
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Mix gochujang (or chili paste), garlic, black pepper, soy sauce, ginger, glucose and half the oil. Add the chicken, mix well and let set for an hour or two.
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Heat two pans, one filled with water and the other with the remaining oil.
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Brown the chicken pieces in the oil. Dilute the marinade in hot water and add it to the chicken.
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Cook the tteok in the other pan until soft. Drain and mix with the chicken (or use cooked corn).
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In an ovenproof dish, accommodate the chicken with tteok and cover with cheese. Take it to the oven to gratinate. Sprinkle chives before serving.
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