Dakjjim & Carrot Kinpira Bento

I had been eyeing Maangchi's Dakjjim recipe (Korean braised chicken with vegetables) for a few months. Today I finally had the chance to make it and I can only say that it's delicious and my version is just the shortcut version with quite some missing ingredients but it's still totally yummy - imagine the taste of the original version!

Besides the bento meal I also have another new bento box which I want to review - actually I have had this bento box for a few months, but never used it until today. This pretty bento box below is from Bento USA. It's microwavable and costs US$23.95.

It is  a click and lock bento box which comes with a plastic lid and includes a pair of wooden chopsticks.

The box is pretty roomy, you will be able to fit in quite a lot of foods inside. There is also a removable plastic food separator inside the box, in case you don't want some food items to touch each other.

 If you are interested to buy this bento box, you can click the link here.

Now let's get back to the food:). Besides Maangchi's Dakjjim, I also made carrot and konyakku kinpira which I adapted from Maki's (from Just Hungry) recipe. I never knew that kinpira can taste so good...!! If you don't know what kinpira means, it is a cooking style which involves sautéing (usually) root vegetables with soy sauce and red pepper flakes.

Dakjjim - Korean braised chicken
Adapted from Maangchi

• 5 chicken drumsticks, skinned
• 6 - 10 mushrooms, sliced
• 200 grams Shirataki noodles
• 1 Tbsp olive oil for pan-frying
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp gochujang (hot pepper paste)
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 200 ml water
• 5 dried chili peppers
• 5 fresh chilies, seeded and sliced
• Black pepper, to taste
• Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Sauté garlic, ginger, dried chili pepper, fresh chilies together with the chicken drumsticks. Add the sliced mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 minute. Drizzle some oyster sauce, soy sauce and gochujang. Add water, sugar and shirataki noodles. Simmer until the chicken drumsticks are cooked through. Sprinkle with ground black pepper and toasted sesame seeds.

Carrot and Konyakku Kinpira
Adapted from Just Hungry

• 2 medium carrots, julienned
• 1 block konyakku, sliced
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
• a pinch of shichimi togarashi (or red pepper flakes)
• toasted sesame seeds

Heat up a frying pan with 1 Tbsp sesame oil. Add the julienned carrot sticks and sauté for 3 - 4 minutes. Add konyakku, bonito flakes and soy sauce. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and sesame seeds.

I also had steamed brown rice topped with yukari furikake, 2 boiled shrimps, 1 crunchy umeboshi, beni shoga (pickled ginger), 4 cherry tomatoes topped with purple potato flowers, stir-fried water spinach with XO sauce, stir-fried soy sauce green chili peppers, 1 radish and 2 slices of tamagoyaki.