Jjimdak (Korean Braised Chicken)

Step 1

Soak the starch noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Drain well before using.

Step 2

Clean the chicken and cut into small pieces. Trim off excess fat.

Step 3

Cut the potatoes in chunks (about 1-1/2 inch) and soak them in water while preparing the other vegetables. Cut the carrot, mushrooms, and onion into bite-sized pieces.

Step 4

Add the chicken pieces to a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over the chicken. (You should reduce the amount of water if not using the noodles.) Add the sauce ingredients except sesame oil and seeds. Bring it to a boil over high heat, uncovered, and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Skim off the foam.

Step 5

Add the potatoes, carrot, mushrooms, onion, dried whole red chili peppers if using, garlic and ginger. Cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. You may see that there still is a lot of liquid, but the potatoes and starch noodles will soak up a lot of the liquid.

Step 6

Gently mix in the green chili peppers (or jalapenos), scallions and starch noodles, and continue to cook, uncovered this time, for an additional 3 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil. Garnish with the sesame seeds to serve.