Chicken Bulgogi

As soon as I saw Bulgogi being made on a television cooking programme a while back, I wanted to make it. It was just so yummy, sweet and spicy but not too much so. You can control the spiciness simply by not putting on too much of the Korean hot paste.

Bulgogi is usually made with thin strips of beef but I got the idea of using chicken from a dish that Marc had done over at No Recipes. By the way I made Marc's Spicy Yakisoba the other night and it was amazing!

I managed to get Gochujang from a fantastic shop that I've mentioned before called Setonaikai in Shrewsbury. If you give them a ring they will be more than happy to post items to you.

So armed with my Gochujang there was no stopping me! My phone excelled its self yesterday too and took some good pictures.

I couldn't get a nashi pear (or Asian pear) to save my life so I had to make do with an ordinary pear - any hard variety works fine.

For the marinade you will need:
2 skinless chicken fillets - sliced into strips and the following;
4 tablespoons of Korean soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3 garlic cloves - finely chopped, 1 teaspoon of finely chopped ginger,
1 nashi pear - peeled and cored, 1 onion and a pinch of white pepper and a pinch salt
*1 tablespoon of sesame oil - only added just before you are ready to cook - as they said on the televison that the strong taste will overpower the marinade if it's put in too early on.

How to do it:
Slice the chicken into strips. In a bowl mix together the Korean soy, water, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper. Using a blender, puree the pear and onion in a and then add this to the marinade. Mix in the chicken strips and leave to marinate for a good 30 minutes.
Don't add the sesame oil yet.

While that's all happening, get your lettuce leaves at the ready!

And the rice.

!

To cook you will need:

a little vegetable oil, ½ onion sliced, 1 spring onion sliced diagonally

To serve you will need:

1 lettuce washed, leaves washed and dried - I use a salad spinner,

some cooked rice and Gochujang (hot Korean paste) and toasted sesame seeds and pine nuts

How to do it:

Just before you are going to start cooking, mix in the sesame oil into the marinade.

Heat a heavy based pan and add a little vegetable oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade but do not discard the marinade!

Cook the chicken the heated pan for a few minutes. Add a good amount of the marinade and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Now add sliced onion and spring onion and cook for another minute or two.

Transfer to a serving dish - preferably one that can go onto a small food heater to keep hot and garnish with the sesame seed and pine nuts.

To serve:

Serve immediately. Place a spoonful of rice in a lettuce leaf then add some chicken followed by a dollop of the Gochujang. Now wrap the lettuce around the filling, which can be a bit of a trick and a bit messy to eat, but it is oh, so good!

We really liked Bulgogi and I will make it again, using beef as is the norm in Korea.