Korean Fried Chicken

Holy frijoles how has nobody ever dragged me out for Korean Fried Chicken before?? This is really a piglet's delight. Succulent pieces of crisp fried chicken tossed in a spicy Korean sauce. The ultimate in finger licking indulgence, i could have polished off the whole lot myself (and almost did!).

Seriously though, this dish is too good not to try. I'm not a big deep frying person as apart from the health considerations there' the hassle with all the oil and the draining and getting it to the right temperature and whatnot. But i can guarantee you that, even if you are a low-use deep fryer like me, these wings will convert you! So long as you don't mind (a lot) of spice!

A note here: traditionally, this recipe calls for gojuchang, which is a Korean chili paste. Unfortunately i couldn't get my hands on any so i substituted with Sichuan Chili Bean Paste and tweaked the sauce to get the right flavour.

Ingredients (Serves 4 with sides)

Chicken Wings

• 8 large chicken wings (both joints, i.e. not drumettes) with wing tips removed
• 1 medium brown onion, finely chopped/grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Oil for deep frying (i used Rice Bran Oil, 1L) 

Batter

• 3/4 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
•  1 cup water, very cold
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Spicy Sauce

• 3 tbsp chili bean paste
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
•  2 heaped tsp brown sugar
•  Juice of 1 small lemon
• 4 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds 

Method

 Combine the onion, garlic salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Add the chicken wings and toss well, coating the chicken.

Set aside for between 1 hour and overnight.
To make the sauce, simply combine all ingredients and mix well. 

To make the batter, place the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk in the iced water until just combined.
Set aside.

Bring the oil to 180 degrees Celsius in a 25cm dutch oven (The oil should be about 5cm deep)
Using chopsticks, dip 4 chicken wings in the batter, coating well.
Transfer using the chopsticks into the oil, holding each piece of chicken from a few seconds over the batter to let excess batter slip off.

Cook for 5-7 minutes or until well browned, turning every 2 minutes.
Transfer cooked chicken to paper towel.

Repeat for remaining chicken wings.
Place the cooked chicken wings in a bowl.

Toss through enough sauce to coat the wings but not drown them.
Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with scallions