Janchi gooksoo, chicken jorim

Janchi gooksoo, or party noodle, is a very simple dish that I can whip up with kitchen staples.
Very soothing, but it has a kick because of the chili (grown in my garden) in the sauce. It uses thin flour noodle called somyun.
By the way, the proper janchi gooksoo will have stir fried Korean courgette et al, but I prefer this version.



Stock
A handful of myulchi (dried anchovies)
15cm X 8cm dried sea kelp
20 cm of pa (Korean leek. It is spicier and slimmer)
4-5 cups of water

1. Lightly toast myulchi in the pan you are going to boil the stock in. Toasting process gets rid of fishy smell of myulchi. When ready, add sea kelp and very lightly toast it as well.
2. Add water and pa. Boil for 15 minutes or longer. The stock should be very light yellowish colour. When ready, strain. Keep it warm.

Sauce
1 Tsp chopped pa or leek
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 chili (7cm long) chopped or snipped
1Tsp Josun soy sauce. (Or maybe dark soy sauce? It smells similar to Chinese dark soy sauce but Korean soy sauce is darker and richer.)
2 Tsp ordinary soy sauce
1/2 Tsp of Korean chili powder. If you don't have it, try hot paprika powder
A small pinch of ginger powder
A small pinch of sugar
A few drops of sesame oil

Mix all the ingredients together. Let it rest a bit.

Kimchi topping
Kimchi about 1/4 of whole kimchi
Sugar
Ground roasted sesame
Sesame oil

1. Get rid of excess yangnyum (spice, marinade or sauce on kimchi) Slice kimchi into thin strips, about 0.5cm.
2. Add a bit of sugar (depends on your taste), 1tsp of ground roasted sesame and a drop of sesame oil. Set it aside.

You don't need to add anything at all. Kimchi tastes good as it is. For some reason, it tastes better when sliced into thin strips.

Noodle
2 somyun packages. I don't know how to descirbe this, but somyun is usually wrapped in paper ribbons. The diameter of packages are usually 2.5 cm in diameter

1. Cook according to the instruction.
2. Rinse them in cold water.

How to assmeble
1. In a bowl, put noodle. The noodle is cold, so it must go through toryum process. It means that the noodle has to be warmed with soup first. Put a laddle or two of hot stock, stir a bit and put the stock back in the stock pot.
2. Add a bit of sauce and kimch. Serve.





Chicken jorim (braised in sauce)
400g chicken thighs or breast
1/4 cup maple syrup
1Tsp soy sauce
1 dried chili
1tsp grated ginger (or use a piece of ginger and remove it later)
salt and pepper

1. Cut chicken into bite size. Add a bit of salt and black pepper.
2. Heat a pan and add oil. Seal chicken on both sides and let them brown a little
3. Mix maple syrup, soy sauce and ginger. Add it to 2.
4. Add dried chili for kick.
5. Cook until almost all the sauce evaporates.