Fire chicken under a mozzarella duvet

Name: Fire chicken under a mozzarella duvet
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: ¼ cup gochugaru; 2 tbsp gochujang; 3 tbsp light brown sugar; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tbsp ginger, minced; 1 tbsp soy sauce; ½ tsp black pepper; 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into ¾-inch cubes; 2 tbsp neutral oil; 4 oz sliced Korean rice cakes (optional, omit if you can't find them); 6 oz low-moisture mozzarella, thinly sliced (6 to 8 oz); 2 scallions, thinly sliced (to garnish)

Buldak means fire chicken. The cheese is there to talk it down.

At a Glance

Time

30 min

Serves

Story

Buldak reads literally as fire chicken, bul for fire and dak for chicken, and it was built to be punishing, a dare as much as a dinner. The cheese is the newer, softer idea, a whole molten cloak broiled over the top to catch the heat and give it somewhere to go, all stretch and rescue. You have gochugaru doing the bright ringing burn and gochujang the deep fermented one, two different fires laid one over the other.

Ingredients

¼ cup gochugaru
2 tbsp gochujang
3 tbsp light brown sugar
3 cloves garlicminced
1 tbsp gingerminced
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp black pepper
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighscut into ¾-inch cubes
2 tbsp neutral oil
4 oz sliced Korean rice cakesoptional, omit if you can't find them
6 oz low-moisture mozzarellathinly sliced (6 to 8 oz)
2 scallionsthinly sliced (to garnish)

Method

This is a dare with a duvet on top. It is very hot and very fast and it wants a bowl of plain rice underneath to soak up everything it throws off. Have the mozzarella sliced and the broiler on before you start, the whole thing is over in half an hour.

In a medium bowl stir together the gochugaru, gochujang, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper into a thick red paste. Fold in the chicken and turn it until every cube is coated.
If you are using rice cakes, swirl the oil into a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high and cook them, turning often, until a little crisp, 3 to 4 minutes, then lift them out. If not, just warm the oil and carry on.
Tip the chicken and all its paste into the pan with ¼ cup water. Cover and cook over medium-high, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes, sliding the rice cakes back in for the last half if you kept them. Meanwhile, heat the broiler.
Off the heat, lay the mozzarella over the whole surface like a blanket and slide the pan under the broiler until the cheese melts and browns in blistered spots, about 2 minutes. Watch it, the line between golden and gone is thin. Scatter the scallions and take it straight to the table, over rice.