Recipe: Fried Chicken Buldak

This recipe combines two of my favorite meals ever: fried chicken and Buldak, Korean fire chicken. It’s based on Serious Eat’s Buldak sauce and Quang Tran’s Sriracha Fried Chicken.

Ingredients#

For one serving.

Buldak sauce:

• 40ml chicken stock
• 40ml soy sauce
• 20ml honey
• 20ml gochujang
• 10g chili powder
• 10ml toasted sesame oil
• 10ml vegetable oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4g of fresh grated ginger, or ~1.5g of ginger powder
• 1 fresh minced chili
• 80ml Sprite

Chicken:

• 3 chicken thighs
• Cornstarch
• Frying oil
• Marinade:
  • 250ml buttermilk
  • 4Tbsp sriracha sauce
  • 2Tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • 1 egg
  • Teaspoon of chili powder

Garnish:

• Grated cheddar and mozzarella, ~40g each
• Sesame seeds
• One scallion, sliced

Preparation#

Mix ingredients for marinade, place chicken in it and marinate for 3 hours to a day.

Combine chicken stock, soy sauce, honey, gochujang, chili powder, sesame oil, and ginger powder, if using.

Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a saucepan and add garlic and fresh ginger, if using. Once fragrant, add chili and pepper; then after about 30 seconds add the mixture and Sprite. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes, until it’s thickened well and covers the back of a spoon nicely.

Heat frying oil to about 170C, and preheat oven to 200C.

Take the chicken thighs, shake off any excess marinade, and coat with cornstarch, pressing firmly and coating them again, until they are dry on the outside. Fry for about 10 minutes.

Place the fried chicken thighs in a oven-proof pan and spoon sauce over them, flipping them to coat evenly. Sprinkle cheese over and place in oven for about 3 minutes, until the cheese is glossy.

Sprinkle sliced scallion and sesame seeds over the pan and serve immediately.

Notes#

• Prep for the sauce is not exactly quick, but it keeps for a while in the freezer, so you can prepare a larger batch in advance.
• If necessary you can of course adjust the amount of chili powder.