Korean Fried Chicken (Dakgangjeong)

Korean fried chicken glazed in sweet and spicy sauce is one of my occasional guilty cravings.

It somehow reminds me of my grad student days: having boxed fried chicken with inari sushi from Woorijip in Korean town after class, and those good conversations over crispy fried chicken at Five Senses, whose soy garlic brown sugared sauce is the flavor I tried to replicate with this recipe. I love the bitter-sweetness of brown sugar.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made deep-fried dish at home since it takes a lot of oil and cleaning up. I was very happy with my attempt this time, though. Chicken nuggets turned out super delicious, and perfect to go with beer (Perfect Chimaek치맥!), as well as the Taiwanese pickled cabbage which I’m going to post next!

In the recipe, I used skinless boneless chicken thighs. You can certainly use chicken wings/ drumsticks/ whole chicken. If so, you might need less coating ingredients than the amount indicated here, since you will have larger pieces, and less surface to coat.

Ingredients:

For Chicken & Marinade:

2.6 pounds skinned boneless chicken thighs

½ cup milk

½ tsp. minced garlic

½ tsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. white pepper

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. sesame oil (optional)

1 tbsp. rice wine if not using milk

For the Coating & Frying:

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs (if omitted, increase potato starch by the same amount)

4-5 cups vegetable oil for frying (or as needed)

For the Sauce:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 tbsp. minced garlic

½ tsp. dried chili flakes

3 tbsp. soy sauce

¾ cup mirin

1.5 tbsps. rice vinegar

4 tbsps. brown sugar

1.5 tbsps. gochujang

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsps. honey

2 tbsps. toasted sesame seeds, more fore sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:

1.     Clean the chicken. Remove excess fat, cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces, or preferred bite size.

2.     Soak the chicken in milk for 30 minutes in the fridge.

3.     Drain the chicken, then mix in garlic, ginger, salt, white pepper, black pepper, sesame oil, rice wine (to moisturize the rub if chicken not soaked in milk). Set aside for 20 minutes.

4.     Combine potato starch and Panko as the coating.

5.     Coat each chicken piece evenly with the coating mixture.

6.     Heat up cooking oil in a (deep) heavy bottom pan to 330°F/ 165°C. Fry the chicken nuggets in batches until light golden, about 3-4 minutes. Separate the nuggets that are stuck together to ensure even frying. Place cooked chicken on a cooling rack or paper towel-lined plate/bowl. Use mesh strainer to remove any starch residues in the oil between batches to keep the oil clean.

7.     Reheat the oil to 330°F/ 165°C before deep frying the chicken again for 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oil to drain and cool off.

8.     In another frying pan, heat up cooking oil over medium heat. Stir fry garlic and chili flakes to release the aroma. Add mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar, dijon mustard, gochujang, vinegar, honey and sesame seeds. Bring the sauce to boil then reduce the heat to medium low. Continue simmering until the sauce thickens slightly. Turn off the heat.

(I recommend tasting the sauce to adjust flavors to personal liking while simmering).

9.     Add fried chicken to mix with sauce. Stir well until the pieces are evenly glazed.

10.  Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top before serving. Enjoy!