dakgangjeong (sweet Korean fried chicken)

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN

• 600g (1lb 5oz) boneless, skinless chicken thighs,
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp golden granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• vegetable oil, for frying

FOR THE GLAZE

• 60g (2oz) jocheong (Korean rice syrup)
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup (catsup)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp golden granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), ground to a fine powder

FOR THE BATTER

• 50g (13/4oz/heaped 1 ∕3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 70g (21/2oz/1/2 cup) rice flour
• 20g (3/4oz/scant 1⁄4 cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
• 150ml (5fl oz/scant 2 ∕3 cup) cold water

Instruction

1. Place the chicken pieces in a mixing bowl, along with the sake, sugar, celery salt and black pepper. Massage well to combine, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour. To make the glaze, combine the jocheong, ketchup, water, sugar, soy sauce, gochujang and garlic in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
2. Remove the chicken from the fridge so it comes back to room temperature before you cook it.
3. Put the vegetable oil and gochugaru in a cold wok or sauté pan over a low heat to warm up, stirring constantly to prevent the gochugaru from burning – a flat flexible spatula is great for this. In a few minutes, the oil will change in colour to a deep red and the gochugaru will start to bloom. Swiftly add the glaze mixture and increase the heat to rapidly bubble for about 2 minutes to thicken the sauce enough to coat the back of the spoon like a runny custard, but not yet sticky like wet glue. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Prepare the wet batter by combining the plain flour, 30g (1oz) of the rice flour and the cornflour. Add the water gradually to the mix and whisk to break up any lumps.
5. Toss the chicken thoroughly with the remaining 40g (11/2oz) rice flour then add the chicken to the batter. Give it a good mix by hand.
6. To fry the chicken, fill a saucepan suitable for deep-frying with vegetable oil. It should be deep enough to submerge the chicken pieces but only come three-quarters of the way up the pan while you are frying. Heat the oil to 160oC (320oF). Carefully lower in a few of the battered chicken pieces and fry for 2–3 minutes until the chicken is cooked through but only pale golden, transferring them onto the cooling rack when they’re done to allow the steam to escape. Don’t put too many in at once. Continue until you have cooked all the chicken. This first fry is to cook the chicken through, so it shouldn’t have too much colour. Check for doneness.
7. Once the first fry is done, increase the heat to 175oC (347oF) and fry for the second time for 2–3 minutes until they’re golden and crispy. Work in batches to prevent overcrowding the pan. When the batches are ready, transfer them onto the cooling rack so any excess oil drains off. Don’t be tempted to sit the chicken on kitchen paper as it will just steam and lose its crispiness.
8. Put the wok or sauté pan with the sauce over a medium heat to warm up. As soon as the edges start to bubble up, toss in the fried chicken while energetically moving the pan around to glaze. In a brief moment, the sauce will coat the chicken and thicken around the crusts. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with sesame seeds.