Dinner Party Dining - Course One - Deep Fried Korean
I strongly suspected that the Kirklees College would not run to genuine Korean gochujang - fermented red chilli paste.
So I bought some. Turns out a tub of the stuff goes a long way...
Having said that, the Korean Fried Chicken sauce works surprisingly well smeared over grilled mackerel!
Having said that, the Korean Fried Chicken sauce works surprisingly well smeared over grilled mackerel!
This Week's Inspirational Message:
Hi all
Apols for the late email. Thank you all for a great first session last week and putting up with all the technical issues we faced. You are all very skilled and we can know start to up our cooking skills as the weeks go on. Next week we are doing Korean fried chicken, tempura chilli and salt and pepper hasselbacks. The aim of the session is to understand how to take a chicken down for sauté and use a variety of cooking techniques leading up to our final session. The ingredients you will need are:-
Look forward to seeing you next week
Aaron
Hi all
Apols for the late email. Thank you all for a great first session last week and putting up with all the technical issues we faced. You are all very skilled and we can know start to up our cooking skills as the weeks go on. Next week we are doing Korean fried chicken, tempura chilli and salt and pepper hasselbacks. The aim of the session is to understand how to take a chicken down for sauté and use a variety of cooking techniques leading up to our final session. The ingredients you will need are:-
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 pack of panko breadcrumbs
- Fresh ginger
- 8 fresh chillies
- 3 large onions
- 2 bunches of coriander
- 1 bottle of honey
- 1 pack of small/medium sized potatoes
- 6 eggs
- 1 cucumber
Look forward to seeing you next week
Aaron
menu
It's a Gundam!
Korean Fried Chicken
Korean Fried Chicken
The spicy centrepiece.
Tempura Chillies
Something to kick it up a notch.
Tempura Jalapeños Stuffed with Manchego
Karl's very non-Korean alternative.
Pickled Cucumber
A fine palate cleanser.
Salt & Pepper Hasselbacks
An odd addition.
Kimchi-Style Fried Red Cabbage
Another Karl contribution. More in keeping with the situation.
Korean Fried Chicken
main fowl oriental korean
This is the version of spicy Korean fried chicken called Yangnyeom made using whole chicken pieces, often wings.
As opposed to Dakgangjeong chicken nuggets (literally candy chicken) which are commonly sold as street food.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (cut for sauté)
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 50g cornflour
- 50g plain flour
- 50g panko breadcrumbs
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the Sauce:- 6 tblsps dark brown sugar
- 2 tsps chilli flakes or gochujang!
- 2 tblsps soy sauce
- 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
- small piece ginger, grated
- 2 tsps sesame oil
- 3 tblsps honey
For Garnish:- sesame seeds
- spring onions, sliced
To make the sauce, put all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer gently until syrupy, so around 3-4 minutes.
Take off the heat and set aside.
Season your chicken with salt, pepper and grated ginger.
Toss the chicken with the cornflour until completely coated.
Reheat the sauce, and toss the crispy chicken in it. Tip into a bowl and top with the sesame seeds and sliced spring onions for garnish.
Be sure to throw some gochujang in there.
And if you don't have any - how are you cooking Korean food?
Break down the chicken into approximately equal pieces - legs, thighs, breasts and wings. Halve the breasts if they're large.
Now throw away the wings - they're rubbish 🙂Season your chicken with salt, pepper and grated ginger.
Toss the chicken with the cornflour until completely coated.
OK, something went wrong with Aaron's (type-written) instructions here. Because what happened to the panko breadcrumbs?
From what I remember we followed the entirely inappropriate Frenchified process of pané:
Dredge chicken piece in (corn)flour.
Dip in beaten egg.
Roll in breadcrumbs.
In fact Koreans rarely use any egg in their batter mixtures. And certainly not for their crispy fried chicken.
Pre-heat a deep fat fryer to 170°C or a saucepan with 5cm oil to 180°C. Fry the chicken for 4 minutes until crisp, turning halfway.
Remove from the oil and place on a baking tray.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 8/10 minutes.From what I remember we followed the entirely inappropriate Frenchified process of pané:
Dredge chicken piece in (corn)flour.
Dip in beaten egg.
Roll in breadcrumbs.
In fact Koreans rarely use any egg in their batter mixtures. And certainly not for their crispy fried chicken.
Reheat the sauce, and toss the crispy chicken in it. Tip into a bowl and top with the sesame seeds and sliced spring onions for garnish.
Pretty good chicken!
Tempura Chillies
oriental side veg
Ingredients- chillies
For the Batter:- 85g/3oz plain flour
- 1 tblsp cornflour
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 200ml/7 fl oz ice-cold water
Mix this just before you are about to cook:
Sift the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk in the ice-cold water using a whisk, but don't over beat. It doesn't matter about a few lumps.
Use immediately.
Split the your chilli down the centre to reduce the risk of explosion!, coat with the batter mix and fry until crisp.
Season with salt and serve.
Sift the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk in the ice-cold water using a whisk, but don't over beat. It doesn't matter about a few lumps.
Use immediately.
Split the your chilli down the centre to reduce the risk of explosion!, coat with the batter mix and fry until crisp.
Season with salt and serve.
Hmm, needs cheese!
Tempura Jalapeños Stuffed with Manchego
side veg
As made at home after being inspired by the Korean Cookery class.
Manchego cheese pairs really well with the deep-fried jalapeños.
Use your tempura batter of choice. I'm rather partial to Tempura Batter No. 8 myself, but you can get by with equal weights of cornflour and wheat flour mixed with iced soda water, sparkling water, lager, or just water. If you must.
Manchego cheese pairs really well with the deep-fried jalapeños.
Use your tempura batter of choice. I'm rather partial to Tempura Batter No. 8 myself, but you can get by with equal weights of cornflour and wheat flour mixed with iced soda water, sparkling water, lager, or just water. If you must.
Ingredients
- whole jalapeños
- manchego cheese
- tempura batter
Slit open the chillies down one side, prise them open just enough to cut out the core and remove the seeds.
Stuff the peppers with manchego cheese cut into batons or chunks. You don't need to be too precise over it, the cheese will melt nicely when frying.
Preheat your chip pan oil to 180°C/350°F.
Mix your preferred tempura batter, roll in the peppers making sure to generously cover the opening you made.
Deep-fry for a few minutes until nicely golden.
Remove, drain, and serve.
Stuff the peppers with manchego cheese cut into batons or chunks. You don't need to be too precise over it, the cheese will melt nicely when frying.
Preheat your chip pan oil to 180°C/350°F.
Mix your preferred tempura batter, roll in the peppers making sure to generously cover the opening you made.
Deep-fry for a few minutes until nicely golden.
Remove, drain, and serve.
Nice combination.
Pickled Cucumber
side pickle veg vegan
Serves 4Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber, trimmed, sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 150ml white wine vinegar
- 7 tblsps caster sugar
Trim off the cucumber ends.
Cut in half widthways and spiralize into thick ribbons.
Mix the other ingredients together in a small bowl then stir in the cucumber.
You can just slice it into strips with a potato peeler. Avoid the seedy centre which contains far too much water.
Toss the cucumber ribbons with the salt in a bowl.Mix the other ingredients together in a small bowl then stir in the cucumber.
Nice counterpoint to Korean fried chicken.
Salt and Pepper Hasselbacks
side staple veg vegan
I'm not sure there's anything very Korean about these chaps, but they do pair surprisingly well with the chicken and the pickled cucumber.
So who am I to criticise?
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 5 small/medium-sized potatoes
- 4 tblsps vegetable oil
- 4 garlic cloves, bashed
- a few sprigs of thyme
- 2 tsps chilli flakes
- 3 tsps cracked black pepper
- 5 tsps sea salt
For Garnish:- fresh coriander
- fresh chillies
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6.
Place potato on a chopping board, and slice through the potato as in, repeatedly - like making a potato-based toast rack (be careful not to cut all the way through on both ends).
A sharp knife will help to make slices a few mm apart, repeat with the remaining potatoes.
Rub each potato with your hands to coat well in the oil, getting some in between the slices. Toss in the seasoning, and season well.
Roast for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender throughout and the tops are golden and crisp. Believe me they will burn as soon as you take your eyes off them. Baste with any oil in the pan halfway through cooking to get extra crisp potatoes.
Garnish with coriander and fresh-sliced chilli
Place potato on a chopping board, and slice through the potato as in, repeatedly - like making a potato-based toast rack (be careful not to cut all the way through on both ends).
A sharp knife will help to make slices a few mm apart, repeat with the remaining potatoes.
You can use a couple of wooden spoons on either side of the potato, or put the potato in one big one,
to stopper the cuts.
Put the potatoes cut-side up on a shallow baking tray and drizzle over the oil.Rub each potato with your hands to coat well in the oil, getting some in between the slices. Toss in the seasoning, and season well.
Roast for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender throughout and the tops are golden and crisp. Believe me they will burn as soon as you take your eyes off them. Baste with any oil in the pan halfway through cooking to get extra crisp potatoes.
Garnish with coriander and fresh-sliced chilli
I think when I made these I part-filled the baking dish with water to help prevent the potatoes bursting into flames before they'd cooked through.
Kimchi-Style Fried Red Cabbage
side oriental korean
So now that I've bought myself a whole tub of gochujang paste for authenticity's sake I need to use it up on something.
And this is something.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 scallions, cut into ½" pieces, plus more, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1" piece peeled ginger, chopped
- 2 tablespoons gochujang
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ head green red cabbage, cut into 1" strips
- salt
Purée scallions, garlic, ginger, gochujang, fish sauce, and rice vinegar in a blender.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
Cook the cabbage, tossing often, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
Add scallion mixture and sliced scallions; season with salt.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
Cook the cabbage, tossing often, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
Add scallion mixture and sliced scallions; season with salt.
Quite a nice accompaninn.., accommponimm.., acompanyiny.., er, side dish.