Cooks Note

Before leaving France, I bought a bag of Herbes de Provence, Net Weight 5.3 oz. It's just over a quarter pound of dried rosemary, savory, oregano, thyme, and basil. If you have ever experienced picking any kind of delicate or woody herb, you'd understand the large amount of fresh herbs it'd take to fill this fancy bag. It says on the tag:

High essential oiled plants with rich flavour. Orginaly from considered farming and wild plants collecting.

I'm not the kind to really nit pick on grammar or misspelled words. Probably b/c I'm not too keen on the topic, but I know when something sounds weird. "Considered farming" probably means herbs collected from small farms. The "wild plants collecting" bit adds some culture to the packaging in my opinion. I bought a bag the first time I was visiting, and here I am at it again. A simple buy, that goes a long and herbiful way.

Decided to cook chicken today. I'd call it Ketchup Stewed Chicken with Hanguk Red Pepper Powder & Herbs de Provence. There are many variations of this dish in Latin America. There is also a tomato based dish in the Philippines called Peachado, which probably has Spanish influence. You basically stew a chopped chicken using tomato paste and liquid. Chick peas can be added which gives the dish a nice pasty texture. The dish is typically served over rice, of course. It's comfort food.

I want to clean out my fridge before restocking this weekend (if I don't decide to take a bus trip to Uljin for the King Crab Festival, ARGH!!!) with groceries for the Unlearning Project. Well, what the hell am I doing with a whole chicken in my fridge with only a skeleton crew of ingredients. I looked at the bottle of ketchup and the lonely half used zucchini and said to myself, "roll up the sleeves mister". The chicken dish was more than delicious. The ketchup in Korea is completely different than the Heinz Ketchup States side. The one here is sweeter and silkier. I guess it would be like a McDonald's portion pack ketchup. Enough of that, here it is.

Ketchup Stewed Chicken with Hanguk Red Pepper Powder & Herbs de Provence
Preparation 10 minutes Cooking time 1 hour Serves 3-4
Chicken whole, cut up 1 ea
Canola oil
Onion, large dice 1 ea
Garlic, slivered 2 ea
Korean Ketchup, Ottogi Brand .5 C
Rice water 1.5 C
Bay leaf 2 ea
Mustard, dijon 1 tsp
Korean Red Pepper Pwder 4 large pinches
Zucchini, half moon .5 ea
Herbes de Provence 2 large pinches
Salt t.t.

1) In a heavy bottom pot, brown the chopped chicken over medium high heat. Meanwhile, prepare the onions and garlic. Pour about 2 times the amount of water you'd normally cook your rice in (rice cooker) and let it sit until you're ready to pour it into the stew.
2) Remove the chicken from the pot and lower the flame. There should be chicken bits on the bottom of the pot (fond) and add a tad bit of oil. Drop the onions into the pot and sweat for about 4 minutes. Flick in the garlic and watch it until it turns light brown.
3) At this point, add the ketchup and mix thoroughly scrapping the bottom of the pot. Let the ketchup cook until it darkens into a faded red color. Swirl in the mustard and pour in the rice water. Whisk or mix with a wooden spoon until it is a nappe consistency. Add the Korean Red Pepper Powder in generous portions. Season with salt and pepper.
4) Place the chicken in the stewing liquid, bring to a simmer and cover. The stewing liquid should be about 3/4 of the level of the chicken. If not then add more rice water. Flick in the bay leaves. Cook the rice.
5) Simmer for about 40 minutes. Taste and make adjustment with s/p and redPepPwdr. The flavor profile should be sweet, slightly spicy, and savory.
6) Finally, after 45 minutes drop in the zucchini and Herbs de Provence. Do your final seasoning adjustments and then cover for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and let it cool for about 5 minutes (if you can wait that long). Serve over rice and watch Heroes.