Sweet and crispy fried chicken Dakgangjeong 닭강정

Dakgangjung is a very popular traditional Korean dish and is usually made with chunks of chicken from a whole chicken. I’m using chicken wings in this recipe, but you could use chunks.

Each piece of chicken wing is coated with sweet and crispy sauce. Of the ingredients, thinly sliced ginger will turn into something like candy which has not only its own special chewy taste but also influences the whole flavor of chicken. Peanuts turn it into an amazingly crispy snack!

I also posted an easier version of dakgangjeong where you don’t need to mix a batter or slice ginger. It’s just as delicious as this one, so check it out!

Ingredients

40 pieces of chicken wings, kosher salt, flour, starch powder, eggs, ground pepper, vegetable oil, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, corn syrup (mulyeot), vinegar, peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, dried and crushed red hot chili pepper.

Directions

1. Prepare 40 chicken wings or chunks of chicken, rinse them off in cold water and drain them.
2. Transfer the chicken into a big bowl.
3. Add 2 ts of kosher salt, 1 ts of ground pepper, 2 eggs, and the mixture of ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of starch powder. Mix it by hand.
4. Deep fry the chicken wings in vegetable oil 2 times at about 350-380 degrees (F).

Make sauce:

1. Prepare a big wok or pan.
2. Place 1 cup of water in the wok and heat it up.
3. Slice 1 cup of ginger thinly after peeling the skin off and washing, and add it into the boiling water.
4. Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 1 cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup of vinegar and boil it over medium heat.
5. 5 minutes after, add 1 cup of corn syrup and keep boiling over low medium heat about 30 minutes.
6. Raise a spoon of the sizzling sauce above the wok in the air and drop it until the sauce begins stopping halfway. Then turn off the stove.

Mix it up:

1. Reheat the sauce.
2. Add the deep fried chicken, 1 cup of peanuts (or any kind of nuts), ½ tbs dried red hot chili pepper, and ½ cup of toasted sesame seeds into the sizzling sauce and mix it with a spatula. The amount of sticky sauce will decrease while you are stirring. Then turn off the heat and you are done!

Tip: Before the chicken cools down, you may have to separate each piece of chicken wings to prevent them from sticking to each other.

For spicy food lover:
You can sprinkle 2 tbs of dried and crushed red chili pepper instead of ½ tbs.

For vegetarians:
Just make the sauce following the recipe above, and then add whatever dried ingredients you like and make candy! You can use sliced ginger, nuts (almond, walnuts, pine nuts, and peanuts), or sesame seeds.

1. Place plastic wrap on your cuttingboard
2. After mixing all the dried ingredients with the sticky sauce, spread it on the plastic wrapper on your cuttingboard. Wait a few minutes for it to harden.
3. Cut it into bite size pieces and enjoy!