Dakgangjeong
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Dakgangjeong is deep-fried crispy chicken coated in a sweet, spicy, and sticky gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste) sauce.
You know the feeling when watching your favorite TV cooking show and cannot stop drooling over the food. As a result, this dakgangjeong recipe was inspired by binge-watching a South Korean reality-variety show called Youn’s Restaurant. In the season 2, they opened a small Korean restaurant in Spain for a few days. The show featured the day-to-day operation of the restaurant and how the neighborhood interacted with the casts. I love the idea it shows how cooking can bring us together as we are able to share our culture and heritage through food.
About Dakgangjeong
Dakgangjeong (닭강정) consists of two Korean words, dak and gangjeong. Dak means chicken and gangjeong is a type of traditional Korean confectionery, made with deep-fried rice puff and coated with honey followed by nuts, seeds, and beans. In short, dakgangjeong is the chicken version with a similar concept of deep-frying and coating with sticky syrup.
Dakgangjeong is a deep-fried crispy chicken coated in a sweet and spicy gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste) sauce. In Korea, dakgangjeong is a popular street food dish. You can buy chicken with bones or boneless for dakgangjeong. Nevertheless, the boneless one has become very popular in Korea. It is sold and served with a paper bowl and disposable forks for convenience.
Tips on Making Dakgangjeong
1. Tenderize the chicken
Ever find that you cannot completely replicate the tender and moist restaurants’ stir-fried meats in your own wok? Marinating the chicken with salt, ginger, and rice wine will make the chicken more tender and flavorful. Therefore, sitting a cut of meat before you cook with those ingredients is an effective way to soften and break down tough muscle fibers. Most importantly, do not leave the meat in the marinade for to long so that it does not become too mushy. If your meat starts to look cooked around the edges, that is how you will know that your meat has been marinating for too long.
2. How to make the chicken crispy
If you want very crisp, crunchy skin for dakgangjeong, toss your chunks of chicken with corn starch or potato starch. They are great as the thickening agent for sauces and soups, and commonly used in Asian cooking for stir-fries. You can use either one in most recipes and wind up with very similar results. Starch helps the chicken brown easily on the outside and stay juicy inside.
The difficult part of frying the chicken is how to achieve the crispy and crunchy coating while the inside is cooked through at the same time. The situation may either the chicken ends up being overcooked or still raw by the time the batter becomes golden brown. Double frying the chicken will make sure to fully cook the chicken without burning the outside coating. After that, you need to rest the chicken on a cooling rack or a paper towel-lined baking sheet to wick away some excess grease. Cool the chicken for at least 10 minutes before serving to allow the chicken juice to redistribute throughout the meat.
3. Adjust the seasoning
Gochujang or red chili paste is a savory, sweet, and spicy condiment in the sauce. Be aware that each different brand of gochujang may result in different spiciness, sweetness, and saltiness in dakgangjeong. For those who cannot eat spicy food, you can replace gochujang partially with ketchup for a milder taste. On the other hand, adding a little bit of gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper flakes) will make the sauce spicier.
More Korean Recipes
Ingredients
Fried Chicken
- 1.1 lbs (500 gr) boneless skinless chicken thigh/breast
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1/3 cup (40 gr) cornstarch or potato starch
- Oil, for deep frying
Gochujang Sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 4 tbsp honey/corn syrup/rice syrup
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- Chopped peanuts, for topping (optional)
Instructions
Fried Chicken
- Remove any visible fat from the chicken. Cut the chicken into bite sizes.
- Season the chicken with salt, black pepper, garlic, ginger, and mirin. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat and pour about 1 inch of oil. When the oil is hot enough, coat a piece of chicken with starch evenly and slide the coated chicken piece into the hot oil. Repeat until every chicken pieces are placed in the hot oil. Cook until light golden brown, turning over a few times with tongs.
- Remove from oil and set them on a cooling rack. Turn off the heat, and let the chicken cool down for a few minutes.
- Reheat the oil and fry the chicken again until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove from oil and set them on a cooling rack. Turn off the heat, and let the chicken cool down for a few minutes.
Gochujang Sauce
- In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients until well combined.
- Remove oil from the skillet. Heat the mixed sauce with low heat until it starts to bubble. Simmer until it thickens slightly. Add the fried chicken into the sauce and stir well until every pieces are evenly coated.
- Remove from the heat and transfer the coated chicken to a large platter. Sprinkle the peanuts on top.
