Our family's Thanksgiving customs took shape slowly, but the year Halmoni chose to fill a turkey with fragrant sticky rice marked a turning point. From then on, we could count on her sticky rice-stuffed turkey appearing at the table each holiday. After all, who could resist turkey paired with sticky rice? The version I share here, adapted from my book Hand Taste: Cook Like a Korean Grandmother, pays homage to her original. Rather than stuffing a large bird, I spatchcock and roast a chicken atop a layer of sticky rice. The term "nurungji" refers to scorched rice, and this dish is essentially chicken and rice—yet its unforgettable quality comes from the interplay of textures: the crisp crust of rice and skin, and the tender meat. Everyone I've cooked this for has asked for the recipe, so I'm sharing it here so you can become as taken with it as I am. Before beginning, read through the recipe a few times to make sure you've allotted time for brining the chicken and soaking the rice. Also confirm you have a large bowl (for brining), a steamer basket or pasta insert for a pot, fine-weave cheesecloth to line the steamer basket or insert, a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet or shallow roasting pan, and a meat thermometer.
Info
- Cook time: 1 hour
- Total time: 15 hours
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Chicken
- One chicken, preferably no larger than 4 1/2 pounds
- 1 quart water
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 5 peeled garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 quart ice
Rice
- 1 1/2 cups sweet glutinous rice
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or coarsely chopped almonds
- 3 dried jujubes, pitted and sliced
- 1 inch-long thumb ginger, peeled and thinly sliced into planks
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
To Roast
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
Instructions
- Spatchcock chicken: Lay the bird breast-side down on a cutting board. Using sturdy kitchen shears, start at the neck and cut along both sides of the backbone until it can be removed. Set the backbone aside (freeze the neck and any trimmings for stock). Turn the chicken so the neck is at the top of the cutting board and the legs are closest to you. Switch to a knife (a boning knife is perfect if you have one) and cut out the ribcage if it’s not too much of a challenge. Flip the chicken over so it’s skin-side up and press firmly on the breastbone to flatten it.
- Brine chicken: In a large pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil with the salt, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and peppercorns. Turn off the heat, squeeze the lemon halves over the pot. Add the rinds once squeezed. Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the ice, and let cool to room temperature. (You’ll have about 6 1/2 cups brine.) Put the chicken in a large bowl and pour the brine on top. If you have extra brine, save it for marinating chicken breasts or thighs. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 12 but up to 24 hours.
- Soak rice: In a medium bowl, combine the rice and enough water to cover by about an inch and let soak at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Prep for cooking chicken: An hour before cooking, remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry with paper towels and leave at room temperature skin-side up. Thirty minutes before cooking, preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Steam rice: Drain the rice in a fine-mesh sieve, then return it to the bowl and cover with water. Swish your hands through the kernels to rinse away extra starch, then drain again. Leave the rice in the sieve while you fill up a medium pot with water and fit it with a steamer basket or pasta insert for steaming the rice. Wet the cheesecloth and then use it to line the basket or insert. Put the rice in the cheesecloth in an even layer and cover the steamer or pot. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower to a simmer and let the rice steam until fully cooked but firm enough to hold its shape, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the rice to a medium heatproof bowl and stir in the garlic, nuts, jujubes, ginger, sesame oil, and salt.
- Cook chicken and rice: In a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add the rice and spread it in an even layer in the skillet so it starts to brown, about 3 minutes. Place the chicken skin-side up on the rice, tuck the wing tips underneath, and dot the skin with the remaining butter. (If the chicken legs stick out from the edge of the pan, put a sheet pan on the lowest rack of the oven to catch any drips.)
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Increase the temperature to 400°F and roast for an additional 25 to 30 minutes or until the skin is golden, the rice is browned and crisp on the edges, and the chicken is cooked through. (A thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast should register 165°F.) Remove the skillet from the oven. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a cutting board skin-side up and let it rest for at least 5 minutes.
- Slice and serve: Cut the legs off, then separate the drumsticks from the thighs. Cut the breasts off the bone and slice each one into thirds, then cut the wings off. Serve the chicken on the platter with the rice.
Notes
Spatchcock means cutting out the backbone and flattening the chicken so it lies flat, roasting faster and more evenly than a whole chicken. Some butcher shops sell the chicken spatchcocked for you–if that’s the case, you can save a step. To plan out this recipe, brine the chicken a day before and soak the rice at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours before cooking. You can also make and refrigerate the brine a few days before brining the chicken.
