There are a variety of grilled dishes in Korean cooking that go by the name gui. Mae-un dak gui (매운닭구이) is one such dish that uses chicken (dak) boldly flavored with a hot and spicy (mae-un) chili marinade.
Quick and easy, dak gui makes a terrific mid-week meal. Just start marinating in the morning and you’ll be good to grill by evening.
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into smaller pieces — 2 pounds
- Gojuchang chili paste — 1/3 cup
- Mirin — 1/4 cup
- Soy sauce — 2 tablespoons
- Sesame oil — 2 tablespoons
- Garlic, minced — 2 or 3 cloves
- Ginger, minced — 1 tablespoon
- Salt and pepper — to taste
For serving
- Green or red leaf lettuce leaves
- Hot steamed rice
Method
- Mix all the ingredients together well in a large bowl and refrigerate to marinate for at least 3 hours, and up to 12 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the marinate and grill or broil until cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes.
- To eat, serve with lettuce leaves and steamed rice. Place a bit of rice on a lettuce leaf and top with a piece of grilled dak gui. Roll the leaf up around the filling and eat with your hands.
Dak Gui Variations
- Gochujang chili paste is available in Korean or other Asian markets, or can be ordered online.
- To make a quick condiment to serve with the dak gui, mix 2 tablespoons of gochujang paste with 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and enough soy sauce or water to thin it out a bit. Spread a little of this sauce on the lettuce leaf before filling it.
- If you don’t have mirin, use rice wine or sake and about 1 tablespoon of sugar.
- Add 2 or 3 roughly chopped scallions to the marinating chicken if you like. Grill the scallions along with the chicken.
