Too hot for you!

I've been looking for new Korean recipes and tonight I'm making something called Tak Toritang. We've never had it before but it sounds good. One of the ingredients it calls for is gochujang, which is a Korean red pepper paste. It's hard to find, you have to get it from a Korean market, which means that I got to go back to the Korean market we went to last night. Yay!

Gochujang is pretty much a pantry staple in all Korean homes. It's used in lots of Korean cooking. But it's red pepper paste, so unless you're used to eating really hot, spicy food, which Koreans are and Americans usually aren't, you have to be careful with it!

So when I got to the market I asked the cute Korean lady from yesterday's adventure where I could find gochujang. Another Korean woman in the store heard me asking for it and started saying "No! No! Too hot for you!!" Lol! She came over and told me to make sure not to use very much of it because it will be too hot for me and for Matthew, who was with me. She was so cute that I wanted to give her a hug and take her home with me.

Then once the woman from yesterday helped me find it, she started saying the same thing. She kept saying "Too hot! Mix with water!" I told her what I was trying to make, so she gave me lots of good advice about how to cook it.

Can I just LIVE at the Korean market until Clarissa gets here??

Anyway, I haven't attempted to make my Tak Toritang yet, but it looks really easy, so I'm going to try it tonight. In the meantime, here's the recipe if anyone wants to hunt down gochujang and try it:

Tak Toritang

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 pounds chicken drumettes
2 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons hot pepper paste (gochujang) (or less if you're American and the women in the Korean store tell you that it's too hot for you.:))


DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, mix the chicken, potatoes, carrots, onion, sugar, and garlic. Pour in water and soy sauce, and stir in sugar and hot pepper paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, until chicken juices run clear, vegetables are tender, and liquid has thickened. Serve with rice.

I'm not using chicken drumettes, I'm just going to cube some chicken breast. Yum! I'll let you know how it goes and I'll let you know if it is too hot for me! :)