Ingredients
Units
Scale
- For the chicken:
- 9 oz. (250g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
- Knorr Aromat and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp. mirin
- 2 tsp. ground Korean perilla seeds
- peanut or avocado oil as needed to fry
- ***
- 1/4 green bell pepper (TFD actually prefers a fresh poblano)
- 1/4 red bell pepper
- 2 green onions
- 8 cloves garlic, divided - 2/3 minced for the sauté, 1/3 sliced, added after the sauce hits a boil
- 1 tsp. ginger paste
- 2 Tbsp. chili oil
- 4 dried chilies de arbol, stems removed
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil (TFD endorses only Kadoya brand)
- ***
- Batter:
- 3/4 cups potato starch (or cornstarch)
- 1/2 egg white
- ***
- Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp. + 3/4 tsp. sugar
- 1 Tbsp. mirin
- 1 Tbsp. Shaoxing cooking wine or dry Sherry
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce (TFD prefers Bluegrass brand)
- 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce (TFD endorses only Megachef brand)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. white vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Hengshun zhenjiang handcrafted vinegar, 6 year (Chinkiang black vinegar) (TFD note: you can substitute white vinegar, if you must)
- 3 Tbsp. low-salt chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp. Knorr Aromat
- 1/2 tsp. ground Korean perilla seeds
- 1/2 tsp Korean plum extract (maesil-cheong)
- ***
- Garnish:
- generous pinch of toasted sesame seeds
- minced green onion
Instructions
- Prep Ingredients: add to a small mixing bowl the potato starch (or cornstarch) and make it flat. Gently add some cold water. Do NOT stir it. Let sit until you can’t see any bubbles.
- Cut the chicken thighs or breasts into bite-sized pieces – about 1 inch long would be perfect. Transfer it to a large mixing bowl. Season with Aromat, pepper, perilla seed powder and mirin (1 tsp). Gently massage.
- Finely dice the red bell pepper, VERY finely dice the poblano, finely dice the green onions (make sure to include the white parts).
- Make the sauce: in a separate container, mix together sugar (not the pinch), mirin, soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, water, white pepper, perilla seed powder and Aromat.
- Make Batter: get back to the starch. If the water on top looks very clear and all the starchy settled down on the bottom, carefully empty out the water on top. Take out the starch with your spoon and break it into pieces over your chicken. Mix everything together. Add ½ an egg white to the mixture and massage it.
- Triple-fry Chicken: fill your wok (or pot) with enough oil to have at least 2″ depth and heat it over medium heat. Once it reaches 340℉, make sure to mix the chicken again and carefully add the chicken pieces – there should float freely.
- Leave it alone for about 3 ½ minutes or until the chicken gets crispy on the outside. Scoop it out, and hit the chicken pieces with a spatula. They will naturally separate from each other. Let rest on a cooling rack.
- Do a second fry at 350℉ for about 3 minutes. Remove from the oil and let rest on the cooling rack for 7 minutes or so to increase both crispness and crust “glassiness” in the final fry.
- While waiting – in a separate pan, add chili oil (2 Tbsp). Once it gets nice and hot, add the vegetables and dried chilies. Saute for 1 minute or until fragrant. Pour in the sauce and bring it to a boil. Once it’s bubbling away, turn the heat off and set aside.
- Give the chicken a third fry at 365 ℉ for 60–90 seconds, go towards 90 seconds if you want slightly more surface blistering.
- Bring the sauce back up to a boil and add maesil-cheong plus the remaining sliced garlic. Once it starts to bubble up again, drain the chicken pieces in a colander to remove excess oil for about 5-10 seconds, then add the chicken in and toss everything together for about 30 seconds over high heat. Turn the heat off. Add sesame oil (1 tsp.) and toss together again.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and minced green onion.