Dakgangjeong is a street food version of Yangneom chicken, the fried chicken that’s covered in the spicy, sweet sauce. It’s bite size and there are no bones to worry about.
What makes fried chicken Korean fried chicken?
Well, it’s how the chicken is seasoned while marinating plus it’s double fried. Double frying is actually a fairly common trick in Korea, my mum would double fry the kimchi pancakes to make them extra crispy.
Always enjoy this with beer, Koreans even have a name for it: Chimaek which is a portmanteau of chicken and Maekju (beer).
Recipe:
– 500g skinless, boneless chicken thighs cut into bite size.
– 4 cloves of garlic, minced
– 1tsp minced ginger
– 2 tbs mirin (or sake or vodka)
– 1 cup of potato starch (or cornflour)
Plenty of neutral flavoured oil for frying, I used vegetable oil.
For the sauce:
– 3 Tbs gochujang
– 3 Tbs ketchup
– 1 tsp gochugaru (optional)
– 1 Tbs rice syrup or honey
– 1 Tbs brown sugar
– 2 tsp Korean apple vinegar (halve if using normal vinegar)
– 3 cloves of garlic chopped
– 1/2 Tbs soy sauce
– 1 Tbs tonkatsu sauce (or 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce)
Marinate chicken chunks in ginger, mirin and garlic for 2h and up to overnight.
Coat each piece thoroughly in potato starch, and set aside.
Heat oil to 175C.
Carefully place the chicken in the oil, make sure not to overcrowd and fry in batches.
Fry for about 2-4 mins depending on how big your chicken chunks are.
Take out and rest on kitchen towel lined plate.
Heat the oil back to 175C and now fry all the chicken at once for about 1-2 min.
Take out and set aside.
Meanwhile combine all sauce ingredients and heat until bubbling and thickened. Pour sauce over chicken and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy with beer
