Korean Fried Chicken in sticky, sweet, spicy Sauce

I love fried chicken. FF doesn't . Fo some reasons, he's not overly keen to have things greasy and deep-fried. He doesn't  like  eating chicken skin or chicken wings or  gnawing on its bones. You know, the good stuff.  So I tend to deep fry stuff less often than  I wish.  One of our secrets to our harmonious marriage.

Anyway, while staying a week in Sydney, we passed by Chinatown's Korean street everyday on the way to the hotel. Posters of bibimbap, Korean grilled meat, kimchi  and stews adorned most of  the restaurants'  facade. What stop me on my tract most of the time are the pictures perfectly golden brown fried chicken, drench in seductive red sauce. It looks sooooo good it must be illegal in some countries. I could almost see myself licking that sauce off my finger.

So I dragged a reluctant  FF in one of those Korean restaurant for dinner. We haven't had Korean food before and now is perfect time to try it.  We ordered a large portion of Korean Fired chicken asa KFC to many. The skin was super crispy , the meat succulent and tasty, the sauce , oh the sauce! It was sticky, sweet and spicy. It's exactly what our doctor doesn't  advice. Luckily,  he's on the other side of the world , probably nibbling on some carrot sticks. Meanwhile,  watching my non-finger linking husband polish his own digits is the best compliment that Korean cook could get that night. It was so good, we ate a lot of Korean Fried chickens after that and  left a trail of chicken carcass all over Australia.

When we got home, making my own  KFC became a life mission. Fortunately, recipes on the internet are plentiful and for free. A little tampering here and there and the first batch of chicken was  our dinner table.

 Few days after that, the second batch followed. Haven't heard any complain from FF yet, on the contrary, he was raving how good it was!

I served a bucket full of this to my friends last weekend. They literally butchered the fried chicken, agian. Yup, it was THAT good!

Ingredients:

1.5 kg Chicken , preferably wings or legs,  cut into pieces

1 tbsp. grated ginger

3 cloves of minced garlic

salt and pepper

1 cup corn or potato starch

 Grape seed oil for deep frying

Sweet and Spicy Sauce:

5-6 cloves garlic

a handful of dried chili, seeds removed, chop roughly

6 tbsp. light soy sauce

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

3 tbsp. rice/corn syrup

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. ketchup

2 stalks of spring onions, white and green part separated

1 tbsp. toasted sesame seed

Wash chicken pieces under cold running water. Drain well.

In a large bowl, add chicken, garlic and ginger . Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

 Roll each piece of chicken in potato or corn starch until well coated. Heat oil in pan until temp. reaches 170-180 °C.

Deep fry chicken, in batches if necessary. If using wings, fry for about 10 minutes. If using drumstick and thigh, about 15minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.

 Put chicken in a strainer and let excess oil drip. Nope, you're not done yet! If using frying pan, remove the starch sediments that has settled at the bottom of the pan. Crack up the heat and put the chicken back into the hot oil! Yup, the Koreans went all out when it comes to their KFC. Apparently , double frying them chicken makes it extra, extra crispy. Cook for 10-12 more minutes  . 

 While chicken is cooking for the second time. Put  chopped garlic, dried chili, onion ( green part, set aside as garnish) and all the liquid in a pan.

Cook under medium low heat until sauce thickens .

Once the chicken is cooked and drained the second time, put fried chicken into the pan containing the sauce. Toss until  each chicken piece  is coated in sauce. 

Garnish with green onion and toasted sesame seed. Serve hot and with pickled radish. Now  watch how fast the contents of that plate vanish! It's like magic!