Spicy Korean chicken skewers (dak-kkochi: 닭꼬치)
Today's recipe is one of the most popular Korean street foods: spicy chicken skewers called dak-kkochi. When I visited Seoul a few years ago, I saw many people lining up to get chicken skewers from street vendors. Customers can choose which kind they want, depending on which sauce is used or if...
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 5 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp apple vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (corn oil, grape seeds oil)
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green onion, minced
- 1 to 2 daepa, cut into 2 inch long pieces, optional
- 6 inch long garaetteok, cylinder-shaped rice cake (store bought or make your own), cut into 3 equal sized pieces, optional
- 1/3 cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
- 1/3 cup rice syrup (or corn syrup)
- 2 tbsp gochu-garu (Korean hot pepper flakes)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the chicken, soy sauce, ground black pepper, garlic, and green onion in a bowl. Mix it well by hand. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, up to overnight.
- 2
Combine gochujang, rice syrup, gochu-garu, vinegar, vegetable oil, and water in a bowl. Mix well with a spoon until smooth, thin, and shiny. Set aside.
- 3
Thread 4 to 5 chicken pieces on the skewers. If you use daepa (large green onion), skewer 1 or 2 pieces between the chicken pieces on each skewer. If you use rice cake, put it on its own skewer because the cooking time may be longer than the chicken, depending on the thickness of the rice cake.
- 4
Preheat the grill to medium heat. Place the chicken skewers on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes uncovered. Move the skewers occasionally with your tongs so that they are cooked evenly. Flip them over and cook for another 5 minutes, rotating the skewers with tongs to cook evenly and being careful not to burn them. When both sides of the chicken and the rice cakes are well cooked, brush the red sauce over the skewers and cook for 1 minute. Flip them over again and add a generous amount of the red sauce over the skewers. Grill another minute and remove from the heat. Serve right away.