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 cheese is added. I tasted a couple of different skewers but the spicy version tasted best to me, and I thought I could easily make the recipe for you guys.
This video was shot on a recent trip to a house in the mountains. I really felt like I was traveling with you and showing you the beautiful scenery, cooking together and sharing the food. I hope you can feel just a tiny amount of the beauty of nature from this video!
You don’t have to use a BBQ grill to make dak-kkochi, I’ll also give you some instructions on how to use a stovetop, too. Actually, cooking on stovetop is easier and it’s easier to control the heat, but BBQ cooking outside in the fresh air is so refreshing and fun!
Enjoy the recipe and watching the video!
Ingredients
Makes 5 skewers
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, cut into 1½-inch to 2-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 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 4 equal sized pieces, optional
For spicy red sauce:
- ⅓ cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
- ⅓ cup rice syrup (or corn syrup)
- 2 tablespoons gochu-garu (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 2 tablespoons apple vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (corn oil, grape seeds oil)
- ¼ cup water
Special tools:
- 5 to 6 10-inch wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes
Directions
Season the chicken:
- 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.
Make spicy red sauce:
- 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.
Skewer:
- 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.
Grill:
- 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.
How to grill chicken skewers on stovetop:
- Preheat a large 12 inch cast iron grill over medium high heat.
- Place the chicken skewers and rice cake skewers on the grill. Move the skewers around a bit to cook evenly. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Flip them over and cook for another 5 minutes, rotating the skewers occasionally, until well cooked.
- Flip them over and brush the red sauce all over, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.
- Flip them over one last time, brush more red sauce over top, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and serve right away.
