Korean Fried Chicken

I'm not a huge fan of wings but one type I thoroughly enjoy are the ones sold at Korean markets. Slightly sweet, slightly tangy, and slightly spicy with an extra crispy skin, these wings are always gobbled up. There are a lot of Korean spicy wing recipes out there but this is the one that I've had success with more than once.

Korean Fried Chicken

Recipe from seasaltwithfood.com

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

3 lbs chicken wings, rinsed and patted dry

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp black pepper

1/2 cup potato starch powder

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 tbsp canola oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup Korean rice syrup

1/4 cup Korean hot pepper paste

1 tbsp apple vinegar

roasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. In a large bowl, season the chicken with salt and pepper and set aside for 10 to 20 minutes.
2. Add the potato starch powder, all-purpose flour, sweet rice flour, baking soda, and egg. Coat the chicken wings with the flour and egg mixture, making sure to cover all the nooks and crannies.
3. Preheat the oil to 350 degrees F in a wok or deep fryer. Deep-fry chicken wings in batches until light brown, about 6-10 minutes, depending on the size of the wing. Drain the chicken wings on paper towels. Fry the wings one more time for another 6 to 8 minutes until crispy and golden brown. 
4. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Add the canola oil in a heated pan. Mix in the minced garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the ketchup, rice syrup, hot pepper paste, and apple vinegar. Stir and simmer the sauce for about 7 minutes. Keep the heat low to prevent the sauce from burning. 
5. When the chicken is done, reheat the sauce and coat the chicken wings with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and serve immediately. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving:  836 calories, 33.6g fat (12.6g saturated, 9.5g polyunsaturated, 17.5g monounsaturated), 41.4g carbohydrates, 1.2g fiber, 63.4g protein.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

For some reason, all of the produce and meats purchased at our local market is unusually large. Take for example, the wings. They might as well be chicken thighs! 

The flour-egg mixture is very crumbly and dry, which may puzzle you, but fear not! You just need a simple coat for each wing and it will crispy up quite nicely. I didn't have any potato starch on hand so I used corn starch instead. 

Because of the size of these wings, they took at least 5 minutes to fry for the first time. Given the amount I had to prepare today (about 30 pounds today!), I only fried the wings once. Once it was closer to service time, I reheated the wings in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. 

The sauce is very easy to put together. If you like you can prepare ahead of time and simply reheat it when you need it. If Korean rice syrup is too difficult to locate, you can use honey or corn syrup instead. 

This recipe isn't exactly like the ones from the market that I purchase, but they are equally as tasty. The sauce reminds me somewhat of a sweet and sour sauce. Korean hot pepper paste is actually sweet and only slightly spicy, which gives the sweet element to the sauce. The people loved this dish and requested for left overs; unfortunately, there were none!