Chicken with Hot and Sour Korean Bibim Guksu Sauce
I am in one of my frequent Korean cooking frenzies. Browsing my favourite blogs, looking for new ideas, I have stumbled upon Bibim Guksu, a cold noodle dish with hot and sour sauce. Until now I have associated Korean cuisine with its hallmark hot and sweet flavours, so the sauce has obviously piqued my curiosity. Instead of making noodles, I finally borrowed only the sauce and incorporated it into a chicken stir-fry. I know this is far from its traditional use, but the result was excellent. The sour touch of vinegar didn’t hide the familiar hot and sweet flavours, but added a pleasant refreshing touch. I already feel it will be my staple fiery sauce for summer dishes.
I have discovered this delicious vinegared Korean sauce thanks to Gomo from cHow Divine and Sue from My Korean Kitchen). Their versions of Bibim Guksu vary, but the sauces are quite similar. I have combined their sauce recipes, making mine slightly more sour and adapting it to an individual portion. I also couldn’t resist adding a grated garlic clove. Check the original sauce recipes and, most of all, two different but equally tempting Bibim Guksu versions, as well as other fabulous recipes at cHow Divine and My Korean Kitchen. Thank you so much, ladies, for this wonderful, inspiring recipe! Now that I have become fond of the sauce, I cannot wait to try it with cold noodles.
If you are a happy owner of a tub of gochujang (the famous Korean chilli paste, one of the ingredients in this recipe), you might like these – more or less Korean – ideas:
Preparation: 15 minutes
Ingredients (serves one):
1/2 chicken breast
1/2 carrot, 1/2 sweet pepper or other vegetables of your choice
1 spring onion
Bibim Guksu Sauce:
1 heaped tablespoon gochujang (Korean chilli paste)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon syrup or honey (I have used agave syrup)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1 small clove garlic, grated
Combine the sauce ingredients. Put aside.
Cut up the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and season it slightly with salt.
Slice the carrot finely, cut up the pepper.
Slice the spring onion.
Heat oil in a pan or wok, stir-fry first the meat and the carrot, then add the sweet pepper with the white part of the spring onion.
Stir-fry until the chicken breast is thoroughly cooked.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and fry, stirring, until the sauce thickens.
Serve with rice, sprinkled with chopped green part of the spring onion.
The names of Korean ingredients and dishes are so confusing. I realised that while I HAVE doubanjiang (chili bean paste) which I used for mapo tofu I don’t have gochujang (Korean chilli paste) … otherwise it does sound like a very flavourful sauce. I may just use it anyway when I attempt a Korean dish.
Today I made potato gnocchi for the first time. So many nationalities each with their own cuisine to try. 🙂
In my opinion Chinese chili bean paste has nothing to do with Korean gochujang in terms of taste, apart from being hot. Gochujang is slightly sticky and sweet while the Chinese paste is not sweet at all (at least the one I have is rather very salty). I would rather skip gochujang than use the Chinese paste instead… You can simply add more chili powder and more syrup/honey to a Korean dish if you don’t have gochujang. Maybe also add some miso too… Anyway, there are Korean dishes not calling for gochujang so you might try these.
Love the recipe which is down as one to be tried: more so the introduction to ‘My Korean Kitchen’. which methinks will enlarge my knowledge of the area’s cuisine just wonderfully !! Thank you, Sissi 🙂 !
Thank you so much, Eha.
Sounds very delicious, and similar to some of the Chinese sauces. I will try this when I invest in a container of gochujang.
Bibim Guksu also sounds Turkish, especially Guksu.
BTW one of the soups I like is called hot and sour soup – its Chinese. Really excellent
Thank you so much, Mr. Three-Cookies. Yes, gochujang is necessary here. You are right: it sounds a bit Turkish! (On the other hand I’m not sure how it sounds exactly… this is only an English way to transliterate the Korean name…). I think I have already cooked hot and sour dishes from my Hunan cookery book. I loved them! Thanks for reminding me I must test new ones (and post them!).
Looks great Sissi! I have yet to try gochujang… Next time I am at the Asian market I will be sure to look for it.
Thanks a lot, Tessa.
This looks wonderful. This chicken and sauce would make a perfect meal.
Thank you, Dawn.
This had me drooling, even after just having dinner 😀
Thank you, Kiran.
this sounds lovely and I can sure go with a big bowl of rice with this dish. I love the Korean chili paste. 🙂
Thanks a lot, Amy. Actually you don’t see it but it’s on top or rice 😉
How have you been Sissi? Love this new Korean recipe – We do have a tub of gochujang and I’m looking forward to giving this a try! The ingredients are very common and this will be a great family meal!
Hi, Nami. So glad to see you here! I hope you will try it one day. It’s so refreshing and easy…
Your bibmguksu looks delectable! This is the perfect season for these noodles. Your recipes for other Korean-influenced dishes look perfectly spicy and yummy as well. I’m with you on the gochujang. I love it so much I put it on just about everything. And thank you so much for the link! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Thank you so much, Gomo, and thank you for not scolding me for having stolen the sauce instead of making the correct noodle dish 😉 I am very grateful for the inspiration! I will be making the real noodle dish very soon.
Great dish Sissi,
i guess hot and sour dish won’t ever failed to blow my asian licking
this ir really new for me, not so familiar with a korean dish…..
Thank you, Dedy.
this will always be one of my favourite!
Thank you, Cquek.
Korean food is honestly so fascinating—it seems to be particularly distinctive in the realm of Asian cuisine. I didn’t really discover it until I met a bunch of Korean friends in college, and since then I’ve been dabbling a bit with all the flavours in my kitchen. They do the best cold noodles suitable for summer, too!
I couldn’t agree more! Luckily, apart from gochujang and chilli powder, many ingredients can be used in both Korean and Japanese cuisine, so it makes the exploration easier for me.
Sissi, while I won’t be making this exotic Korean chicken…simply because, I have so many other different cooking and baking projects lined up…just can’t concentrate on trying to acquire new ingredients for my pantry or fridge. I truly admire and love all your Asian creations, and the patience, skill, and the spirit that you have making all these wonderful and tasty dishes. It is truly an ‘art’ that you have perfected, my dear friend!
Elisabeth, thank you so much for all the kind heart-warming words. I’m truly flattered! (Though I’m very far from perfection!)
Your photos is impressive! The photo made me really hungry. I love Korean foooods!
Thank you so much, Nipponnin.I’m glad we both share the fondness of Korean cuisine.
Aah yes gochujang – chilli paste (not plum wine at all… lol!). Sissi – this really is another spectacular looking dish… I must say you are extremely talented at serving asian dishes. A lot of asian cooking I find quite complex with several stages and by the end I’m just happy to sling it on the plate in one go before it all gets cold, or un-crispy/soggy etc. My plates never look even half as pretty as yours do – it looks just like a picture from a menu for a restaurant!
The dish sounds very nice indeed – even with the chicken! Do you know what “bibim” means by the way? Since there is another dish, bibimbap, I was wondering if it’s a related word in some way?
Thank you so much, Charles, for the kind compliment. I am really flattered! I have never considered myself skilled in any way in food presentation! I admit however that cute bowls take the attention off the messy-lloking dish 😉 I’m addicted to bowls.
Apparently “bibim” means “mixed/stirred” and “guksu” noodles.
What a tasty chicken dish…I like it hot, spicy and a touch of sour…looks delicious Sissi.
Hope you are having a wonderful week 😀
Thanks a lot, Juliana.
Sissi, I think, I am going to thaw that chicken lying in the deep freeze and waiting for this Bibim Guksu sauce to marry. This is too good! I love recipes with Gochujang: one of my favourite ingredients!
Thank you so much, Purabi. I’m glad your are also a fan of gochujang.
I saw this over at cHow Divine and was quite curious as to its flavor. It looked delicious there and it looks delicious here! You do such a great job adapting recipes to your tastes!
Thank you so much, MJ. I must say I felt very carnivorous… and it was rather my rice day than noodle day 🙂 The hot and sour sauce is amazing.