Korean Twice Fried Wings (get PDF)

 After watching many YouTube videos about making Korean twice-fried chicken wings, I decided to give it a go. I normally look at quite a few recipes and try to pick out some extra tips, hints, and ideas. I then add a few ideas of my own, and see what I come up with. Korean twice-fried wings can be easy or complex. I lean toward the more complex when I am trying something new. As I list the ingredients and how I used them, you can substitute with something similar that you may already have. There are probably hundreds of Korean wing recipes out there, and all of them are different, so you won't ruin it if you change it up a bit. I used a LOT of ingredients. You don't need them all.

Ingredients: ( This recipe is for about 3 lbs of chicken wings)
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
onion powder
dijon mustard (1 tblsp)
rice vinegar (1 tblsp)
siracha hot chili sauce
sesame seeds
dry roasted peanuts
black pepper (1/2 tsp)
rice syrup (I used honey) (1/3 - 1/2 cup)
soy sauce (I highly recommend Datu Puti, found in Asian markets, you'll never use another soy sauce again!) (1/4 cup)
sesame oil (or any other) (2 tblsp)
garlic powder
corn starch
salt (1/2 tsp)
fresh ginger (or powdered ginger, I used pickled ginger) (1 tsp minced)
light brown sugar (1 tblsp)
dried pasilla chili pepper (about 3 large peppers)

 

1. Cut the wings as shown below. Throw the tip end away.

2. Rinse the wing parts thoroughly with cold water. The easiest way is to put them in a large bowl and run cold water over them, churning with you hand. Drain and repeat, 3 times. Drain.

 3. To wings add:
     1/2 tsp salt
     1 tsp minced ginger
     1/2 tsp black pepper
     several good squirts siracha chili sauce
     around 1 tblsp garlic powder
     around 1 tblsp onion powder
Mix well (by hand) and let sit 15 minutes or so.

 4. Take each piece one at a time and thoroughly coat with potato starch, corn starch, or flour. I wanted to use corn starch but didn't have quite enough, so I used 50% flour and 50% corn starch. Place the floured chicken in a bowl.

 

5. Fry in a pot, pan, or deep fryer. (I use my deep fryer) I used regular canola oil with a chunk of lard added for flavor. Place the chicken pieces so they do not touch. Fry for about 12 minutes at 350°.

6. As each batch finishes cooking, remove the pieces and place on a cookie rack on a cookie sheet to drain and cool. Do not drain on paper towels or a flat dish because the bottom will tend to get soggy. Always drain fried foods in this way.

7. After all batches have been fried, drained, and cooled just a bit, load them back up in the fryer and fry again for another 3 minutes. Believe it or not, this is what makes the chicken stay crispy! This time you can put as many pieces as you can fit, and they can be piled up.

After all of the chicken has been refried, take a large handful of peanuts and fry them up for 30 seconds - 1 minute or so. We will use these later.

Now to make the sauce:

1. In a pan add:
      2 tblsp oil
     minced garlic (4 cloves, minced)
     around 3 large pasilla peppers (cut into pieces)
Cook medium heat, stirring occasionally until the garlic begins to brown a bit.
 

2. Lower heat and add to the pan:
     1/4 cut soy sauce
     1/2 cup of rice syrup (I used about 1/3 cup of honey)
     1 tblsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
     1 tblsp Dijon mustard

3. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add to the pan 1 tblsp light brown sugar.

5. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce gets a bit syrupy.

Combine:

1. Pour the sauce over the fried chicken wings. My package of wings was almost 5 lbs and didn't have enough sauce. I scrambled to whip another quicky-do batch with soy and honey. The next time I make this I will double the sauce recipe regardless, so I make sure I have enough.

2. Throw in the fried peanuts. Toss the wings, sauce, and peanuts together with a large spoon. If you fried the wings correctly, you'll be surprised how sturdy they have become!

3. Sprinkle a liberal amount of sesame seeds throughout.

   

4. Eat em!

  

Notes for the future:
It was not spicy enough, with only a faint hint of heat. I will add some cayenne or other hot pepper alternatives. The dried chilies are not hot, but they are super delicious! The only heat was the siracha chili sauce, which I used too sparingly.
I can afford to cut down a bit on the honey, unless I kick up the heat. I am looking for a balance of hot and sweet, and the sweet was more than the hot. This was most likely due to having to whip up more sauce in a hurry (which I did not oversee). I did not taste the sauce (1st or 2nd batch) before using. Shame on me!
Do NOT neglect the dried peppers, peanuts, or sesame seeds! They add so much to the overall taste.

Some extra things to try in the future:

Marinate chicken for 2 hours in buttermilk, cayenne pepper, salt, ginger, garlic powder, onion powder.

Flour mix: salt, sugar, ginger, hot pepper powder, garlic powder, onion powder.
Mix some of this flour mix with cold water to a pancake batter consistency. Dip chicken in this mix, then into dry flour mix. Let set for 15 minutes for breading to set.