Dak-galbi (Korean: 닭갈비), or spicy stir-fried chicken, is a popular South Korean dish made by stir-frying marinated diced chicken in a gochujang-based sauce with sweet potatoes, cabbage, perilla leaves, scallions, tteok (rice cake), and other ingredients.
This dish was developed in the 1960s as grilled chicken-pieces, an inexpensive anju accompaniment to alcoholic drinks in small taverns on the outskirts of Chuncheon.
[4] Dak-galbi spread to Chuncheon's main districts, where the livestock industry was thriving and offered fresh ingredients with no need for refrigeration.
[4] As a relatively cheap dish served in large portions, it gained popularity with soldiers and students on a budget and earned the nickname "commoners' galbi" or "university student's galbi" in the 1970s.
[6] There is a dak-galbi street (닭갈비 거리) in Myeong-dong, Seoul, and there are dozens of restaurants there.