Recipe: Hot and Spicy Chicken in Squash
Words and photo by Soyoung Park
Squash is a food loved by Koreans especially in winter just like sweet potato. While it can be eaten alone after being steamed, it can also be used to make porridge, rice cake, and other kinds of side dishes in the Korean meal.
Squash is a nutrient-rich food, high in fiber, beta-carotene and amino acids while being low in fat. High fiber and low fat means that it is perfect for diet plan meals and to relieve constipation. Beta-carotene is important for eye-sight.
Hot and spicy chicken in squash is found in some local pubs and served with alcoholic beverages. It is great as a dish to share when you have guests around as it looks amazing. Moreover, it is easy to make. If you find it hard to make the sauce, by all means you can easily replace it with tomato sauce found in grocery shops.
Ingredients (serves 3)
-200 grams chicken (any parts, breast and drumstick preferred)
-150 grams milk
-1 squash
-1/2 onion
-1 bell peper
-5 florets of broccoli
-5 mushrooms
-70 grams mozzarella cheese
Sauce ingredients
-2 tablespoons chili pepper paste (고추장)
-1tablespoon soy sauce
-1tablespoon chili powder
-1tablespoon sugar
Preparation
1. Soak the chicken in milk for 10 minutes to take away bad smell of the meat.
2. Cut a lid of the squash and scoop the filling out from it with a spoon.
3. Steam the squash for about 10 minutes upside down so it doesn’t get watery.
4. While steaming the squash, chop all the vegetables.
5. Mix all the above sauce ingredients to make sauce.
Cooking
1. Stir fry chicken for 3 minutes or until no longer pink in center.
2. Add vegetables and stir-fry until tender.
3. Pour the sauce prepared earlier or you can replace the sauce with tomato sauce and stir-fry for 1 minute.
4. Stuff the squash with the stir-fried chicken and vegetables placing mozzarella cheese in between.
5. Place the extra cheese on top of the stir fry in squash.
6. Put squash in the oven and cook at 180°C for around 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.