Korean fried chicken seasoned with a sauce made with soy sauce, gochujang (red chili paste), gochugaru (red chili flakes), and corn (golden) syrup is as popular and common as the Korean Fried Chicken. This recipe, extracted from “The Korean Cookbook” by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi (Phaidon), is an easy way to enjoy fried chicken with different flavours, by eating half as simply fried and the other half tossed in this sauce. The coating is made with a packaged fried chicken mix commonly sold in Korea.
Sweet and Spicy Korean Fried Chicken
Serves 2
Ingredients for Sauce
3 tablespoons corn (golden) syrup
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons gochujang (red chili paste)
2 tablespoons ganjang (Korean soy sauce)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ tablespoon fine gochugaru (red chili powder)
1 tablespoon sugar
Ingredients for chicken
800g bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces
1 tablespoon mat-gogeum (MSG/salt blend)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Neutral cooking oil for deep-frying (about 8 ½ cups
180g Korean seasoned fried chicken mix
Method
In a small saucepan, combine the corn syrup, ketchup, gochujang, soy sauce, garlic, gochugaru, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring well.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes before removing from the heat.
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. In a bowl, sprinkle the chicken with the MSG/salt blend, sugar, and black pepper and mix well. Let sit for 15 minutes.
Pour 7.5–10 cm neutral oil into a large deep pot or deep fryer and heat to 180°C.
In a small bowl, stir together 6 ½ tablespoons of the fried chicken mix and 4 tablespoons water to make a batter and mix well until uniform. Place the remaining generous 1 cup fried chicken mix in a large plastic bag.
Working with one piece at a time, place the seasoned chicken in the plastic bag and shake well until the chicken is well coated. Let settle for30 seconds before removing from the bag, shaking off any excess mix.
Set a wire rack in a sheet pan.Once the oil is up to temperature, reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the chicken pieces, starting with any larger pieces, such as a thigh or drumstick. Deep-fry for 12 minutes, or until cooked through.
Remove and set on the rack to cool for 3 minutes. Sauce the chicken by combining the fried chicken with the desired amount of sauce and tossing well in the bowl.
Plate and serve immediately.
