
Baba’s Garlic Shoyu Chicken excerpted from Cooking with the CrunchBros: Casual and Fun Korean- and Japanese-Inspired Recipes from Our Kitchen to Yours by Jeff and Jordan Kim.
Hundreds of millions of people have had fun watching the playful kid-and-dad duo, Jordan and Jeff Kim—better known as The CrunchBros—make, eat, and enjoy amazing Japanese- and Korean-style meals and treats on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. But the Bros have posted only a handful of recipes online. If you really want to cook and eat like them, you need the easy-to-shop-for, easy-to-make recipes in this bright and colorful book.
Perhaps you would like to introduce kids in your family to Asian cooking in an upbeat, funny, and positive way that will make them hungry, give them more variety in their diet (as doctors and nutritionists advise), and might even turn them into home cooks themselves. If so, this delectable and accessible book is just the ticket.
Or, if there are no kids in your household, perhaps you would just like something more casual and easy to prepare–think “street foods” like skewers and spring rolls, or grazing fare like dumplings or ramen, or a simple, soul-warming miso soup—then you, too, will find in this book tons of fast and comforting recipes for the busy daily whirl.
The Bros serve up healthy and vibrantly flavored recipes in abundance, from Korean treats to scrumptious Japanese dishes, with recipes such as:
- Ramen Salad
- Mochi Pizza
- Spicy Tteok Skewers
- Shoyu Chicken
- Galbi Hamburger Steak
- Misoyaki Salmon
- Macbokki
- Jalapeño Garlic Pork
- Miso Corn
Baba’s Garlic Shoyu Chicken
Serves 4
This is one of Baba’s signature dishes I remember eating growing up. She passed the recipe down to me, and now we make it all the time for Jordan and Kaiya. We like to eat this with a side of rice and fresh veggies like our shoyu mayo asparagus, on page 35.
1½ pounds (680 g) chicken thighs
1 tablespoon (15 ml) neutral oil
MARINADE
3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons (28 ml) mirin
3–4 garlic cloves, grated
1½ teaspoons onion powder
- Place the chicken thighs in a lidded container.
- Combine all the ingredients for the marinade and pour it over the chicken.
- Let it marinate in the fridge for 3–4 hours.
- Heat a large frying pan on medium-high and add the oil.
- Cook the chicken until golden brown. Then, flip the chicken over and turn the heat to medium or medium-low.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the lid and flip the chicken for 1–2 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (internal temperature of 165°F [74°C]).
Recipe reprint with permission from Harvard Common Press.