I wanted to speak with my grandmother to get any of her recipes that she would make for me when I would visit, traditional Korean stews, side-dishes, kimchi's. She only speaks Korean, and I only speak English, so I had to talk to her about her cooking through my mom as a translator. Being excited to gather a bit of these authentic Korean foods, I was surprised to hear her excitedly sharing a Japanese dish! Turns out that she really wanted to share what she thought was her "best stuff." She proceeded to tell me (through my mom) the story of this dish, which starts when she was a kid.
My grandmother grew up in Busan, South Korea, in a time when there was substantial Japanese influence on life there. Growing up, she would eat this dish on special occasions. Her mom would get a chicken and butcher it up — a precious ingredient. Before she was married (which was in 1963), she was invited to a "fancy person's" 60th birthday party, where guests were asked to bring their best dish. She made this dish, quite insecure about how it would hold up to the other, more elaborate dishes, but was surprised when this three-ingredient chicken stew was elected winner. She said after she was married, she never made this dish again, so she was happy that we are receiving this 60 year old dish.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (essential)
3 potatoes
3 large carrots
1 cup sauce:
Soy sauce
Ginger (minced)
Black pepper
Sesame oil
Sugar
Mirin
Method
1) Cut up the whole chicken into uniform chunks (I recommend cutting the drums in half, then using that size as reference). Leave the skin on. Dry them with a paper towel, then season with salt and pepper. Let the chicken chunks take in the seasoning for ~30 min.
2) Cut up carrots and potatoes into "shapely" pieces, think octagonal shapes.
3) Mince ginger and combine sauce ingredients. Taste to make sure it's tasty.
4) Preheat a heavy bottom pan/pot. Brown the chicken pieces in the pan, turning them a few times. Turn the heat down once the chicken isn't sticking. Take the chicken out, notice the fond at the bottom of the pan. That's the good stuff. Make sure it doesn't burn.
5) Add in a bit more oil, then add in potatoes and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape up the fond as water from the veg comes out. Let the potatoes and carrots brown a bit (2 min), then add the chicken back in. Add in half the sauce, then cover with a lid or cartouche.
6) Turn the heat low, stir every 5 minutes, your goal is to color the chicken/veg with the sauce. After the veg is cooked, take off the lid, and slowly add in sauce, constantly stirring. Your goal is for most of the sauce to be evaporated and incorporated into the ingredients. Taste to make sure it's not too salty as you add sauce. It's okay if some sauce gets left out. Let it sit for a bit then serve.
