Korean Fried Chicken

Double frying the chicken after coating it with corn starch makes a super crispy crust.

For this recipe to taste right, there is no real substitute for the gochujang paste. It is easily obtainable in any Asian supermarket, however. You can substitute Balsamic vinegar for the Chinese vinegar. Keep your gochujang and your sesame oil in the refrigerator. We served this with some baby boc choy with oyster sauce.

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKEN
1 pound chicken wings
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup corn starch
canola oil, as needed
FOR SAUCE
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons gochujang, or more to taste
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Chinese vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method:

1. In a bowl, place the chicken, rice wine, half the ginger, salt and black pepper. Combine them well. Then evenly coat the chicken with the starch and set side. (To get the effect like the picture, dip the individual chicken pieces into the bowl of starch, roll the chicken around a bit then take them out and set aside.)

2. In a deep saucepan add an inch or more of oil and heat it until the oil temperature reaches 350F. Start adding the battered chicken carefully and fry them until they cook (between 3 to 5 mins, depending on the size of chicken). Do not overcrowd the pan. Take out the done chicken and place them onto some paper towels while frying the remaining chicken pieces. Once the first set of deep frying is completed, quickly scoop out any floating debris from the oil using a skimmer. Then deep fry the chicken again when the oil temperature reaches 375 F. Fry them until the batter is golden and crisp. (The second time frying is shorter than the first time, 2 to 3 mins) Set aside.

3. In a separate saucepan, add in the Korean fried chicken sauce ingredients, plus remaining ginger (listed above). Heat the sauce over low medium heat and stir well. Once it starts bubbling, remove the pan from the heat. Place double fried chicken into a large mixing bowl then pour the fried chicken sauce over the chicken to coat. Mix them lightly and thoroughly. Alternatively, serve the fried chicken and the sauce separately and use the sauce as a dipping sauce.Once all the chicken is coated with the sauce, serve it hot immediately. Leftover chicken can be refrigerated for a day or two and eaten cold. But it won’t be as crunchy.