(upbeat music)
- Hi, I'm Sunny Lee.
I'm a contributor for Serious Eats
and today we're gonna make a banchan.
This is gamja bokkeum, which is a sweetened
soy sauce braised potato.
Gamja bokkeum is classically potatoes
just braised in a syrup.
My interpretation, we're gonna fry the potatoes first
to get a nice crispy outside and super creamy center.
And then we're gonna braise it
in our dressing that we're about to make.
We're gonna whisk in together the soy sauce,
the sugar,
the water, which will help prevent the caramel
from burning too quickly.
The fish sauce, and then take this clove of garlic
and just grate it.
Then we're just gonna whisk everything together
until it's cohesive and all the sugar dissolves.
This shouldn't take more than 20 or so seconds.
So the best potatoes to use
for this are small, waxy Yukon gold style potatoes.
I like to find ones that are about
one and a half to two inches,
and then just cut them in half.
And they're just like the perfect bite size piece
once they're done.
I also love to leave the skins
on them and you save yourself some time.
Okay, let's cook these potatoes.
We're gonna put the oil in the pan
and put the potatoes in cut side down, turn the heat up
to medium high and cook it until they're golden brown.
My rule of thumb when I'm cooking potatoes,
is that you're gonna notice that it's gonna feel
like they're sticking to the pan, right?
As the oil starts to heat up and the pan starts to get hot.
And as they turn golden brown, they're just gonna release.
I like to use this little metal offset spatula
to kind of lift them up and flip them
once they've turned golden brown.
The most important thing
is to prevent the urge to keep touching the potatoes,
kind of let them do their own thing.
This is a three quart saucier pan.
You'll notice that the sides are sloping up.
And I love to use this particular style of pan
because it's perfect for glazing.
The sloped sides will kind of push the liquid back in
and help emulsify it at the end.
But if you don't have one, you know, a small saute pan
with a lid or any pot that can comfortably fit the potatoes
in a single layer is gonna be just fine.
(potatoes sizzling)
See, I'm telling you guys not to keep touching
the pan, but I can't help it.
It's just like, if there's something in a pan,
I wanna move it.
(laughing)
Especially in the winter time, like I really do just
get tired of like, regular roasted potatoes
or mashed potatoes.
And this thing is basically being preserved
in the soy sauce glaze, so it'll last
for like a week in the fridge.
Oh, we're starting to get golden brown now.
Oh yeah, all right.
So now that our potatoes are golden brown,
I'm just gonna strain out the excess oil
and we're gonna move it back into the pan.
And then we're gonna add our glaze now to the potatoes.
I like to use a spatula so we don't lose any flavor.
(sizzling)
Now that our glaze is over the potatoes,
I'm gonna cover it.
And we're gonna let it simmer
until the potatoes are completely tender.
And I'm gonna use my cake tester to pierce it,
there should be no resistance, probably about 10 minutes.
It's been about 10 minutes.
We're gonna take a look at our potatoes.
Now you'll notice that the potatoes
have not been completely submerged.
As the glaze is reducing,
the steam is actually cooking the tops of the potatoes.
So I'm gonna use my cake tester and yeah,
these potatoes are super, super soft, non-resistant.
So at this point, we're going to glaze the potatoes
and you'll notice that the sauce is starting to thicken
and I'm gonna use, in this case,
I'm gonna use the pan itself, but especially my spatula
and just start moving the potatoes around.
So I'm gonna finish it
with the sesame oil and sesame seeds.
I like to add the sesame oil off of the heat,
'cause you don't really want the sesame oil to taste cooked.
I'm moving the potatoes around once I've added the oil
so that we can really emulsify and get a nice thick glaze.
There is residual heat on the pan
so you don't need to keep it on the stove
and then we'll plate it up and have some.
You'll notice there's some extra sauce in the bowl.
Don't be shy with the sauce.
And there we have it, gamja bokkeum.
Mmm.
Nice firm outside, super creamy in the middle.
You don't need to add any salt when you're cooking this
because the soy sauce glaze with a little bit of
the fish sauce does all the seasoning you need.
Nice little crunch from the sesame seeds,
nuttiness from the sesame oil.
I'm gonna eat this whole thing right now.
Thanks for watching.
And I'll see you guys soon.
(laughs)