Cheesey fire chicken (chijeu buldak)

Buldak literally means ‘fire chicken’ and that is no exaggeration – it is super, super hot! In recent years, some genius decided to tone down the spiciness by covering it in cheese!

Credit: Billy Law

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 250 g (9 oz/1⅔ cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 spring onion (scallion), thinly sliced
• 2 heads cos (romaine) or butter lettuce

Marinade

• 40 g (1½ oz/½ cup) Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru)
• 70 g (2½ oz/¼ cup) Korean chilli paste (gochujang)
• 2 tbsp Korean rice syrup (ssalyeot) or corn syrup, glucose or honey
• 1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 5-cm (2-in) piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated

Marinating time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the chicken to the marinade and mix until the meat is completely coated. Cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) water, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes. Remove the lid and increase the heat to medium–high, stirring continuously until the sauce has reduced and thickened, about 2–3 minutes.
3. Heat your grill (broiler) setting of your oven to high. Sprinkle half the cheese over the bottom of a heavy cast-iron pan, then arrange the chicken on top. Scatter the remaining cheese over the chicken and place the pan on the top rack of the oven. Grill for 5 minutes or until the top begins to brown and blister.
4. Remove from the oven and garnish with the spring onion. Tear the lettuce into leaves and use them to wrap up the chicken like san choy bao.

 

Recipe and images from Little Korea: Iconic Dishes and Cult Recipes by Billy Law, Smith Street Books, RRP $49.99

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.