Korean Fried Chicken Recipe

I went to visit my family in Georgia back in September, and it was food coma overload. But one thing that stood out the most was my Great Aunt’s chicken wings. I knew immediately that I had to ask her for the recipe after the first bite. The tricky thing was that there was no exact recipe. She told me the ingredients and took out some leftover sauce from the fridge. Here I thought that she was going to give me some of the sauce to recreate.. but I was wrong. Instead, she took out a spoon and told me to taste it. I told her that it was delicious and she said, “Ok, just remember that, and make it at home.” If you know Korean cooking, then this is all too common. Luckily, the sauce is similar to your basic bulgogi sauce, so it wasn’t too hard to recreate. “The sauce should just taste good.” Ok, Great Aunt. Thanks! Haha.

Ingredients:

(Makes 20 wings)

· 10 chicken wings (cut in half. 20 pieces total)

· 1 cup flour

· 1 cup cornstarch

· canola oil

Sauce (Makes for 10 wings - Double the sauce for the 20 wings)

· 5 TBSP light soy sauce

· 1 TBSP sesame seed oil

· 1 TBSP brown sugar

· 3 TBSP white sugar

· 1 TBSP red pepper powder/flakes (you can add less or more depending how hot you like it)

· Dash of black pepper

· 1 TBSP garlic (smashed or minced)

· 4 TBSP honey

· 1-2 stalks of green onion (finely chopped)

· sesame seeds for garnish

Cut the tips of the wings off (if you like them on then you can skip this step), and cut the wings in half. Wash the chicken and dry them off. Mix the flour and cornstarch together. Take each piece of the wings and coat it in the mixture. 

For the sauce, add all of the ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

In a large deep pot or wok add enough oil so that it is 2 inches deep. Heat the oil to medium high or 350 degrees. When the oil is hot enough (around 10 minutes), add half of the wings one by one. Cook the wings for 10-12 minutes, flipping each half way through. Take the wings out and place it in a bowl with a strainer. In the oil, there will be the flour/cornstarch mixture on the bottom. I like to take it out so that the oil is clean and won’t get onto the chicken. Repeat the process with your second batch of wings. Let the chicken rest, and let the oil heat back up to temperature for around 5-7 minutes. Add all the wings back into the oil (Do it in two batches if they don't all fit), and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes. Then take the wings out. They should be crunchy and golden brown.

For my great aunt’s version:

Lightly coat the wings into the sauce. You don’t want to drench it. The longer you put the sauce in, it will absorb and you won’t have that crunchy wing. 

For my version:

In a pan on medium heat, add the sauce and keep stirring it until it starts to bubble. Add all the wings and turn off the heat. Mix the wings into the sauce until every wing is throughly coated. Add sesame seeds to garnish. 

Happy eating! :)

[Left: My version / Right: My Great Aunt's version]