Korean Fried Chicken 양념 통닭 Yangnyeom tongdak

So, like I promised yesterday here is another recipe today. Yesterday we had pork, so today I will be introducing you to a dish with chicken. You all know the standard friend chicken we get in Western countries right? Well the answer is KFC. Well today I will be posting about Korean Fried chicken.

Yangnyeom tongdak (양념 통닭)is a popular dish especially around the time of sporting tournaments, much like KFC. But this chicken is flavoured to suit Korean tastes by being slightly spicy. Today I will be showing you how to have it plain or seasoned, but both as still delicious. The chicken in this recipe is nicely battered and fried with a slightly sweet and spicy sauce. And now to the recipe:

Ingredients
Main Ingredients
1 kg Chicken (About ½ Chicken)
⅛ Cup Milk
¼ tsp Salt
⅛ tsp Black Pepper
1 Pinch Ginger Powder (Optional)
Batter Ingredients
¼ Cup Potato Starch or Cornstarch
¼ Cup Frying Mix or Flour
½ Tbsp Korean Curry Powder
2 Pinches Salt
2 Pinches Black Pepper
Sauce Ingredients
¼ Cup Ketchup
3 Tbsp Red Pepper Paste
2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Minced Onion
½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
½ Tbsp Minced Garlic
½ Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Method
1. Combine chicken, milk, salt, black pepper and ginger powder in a bowl. Marinate it for about 10 minutes. This step (especially the milk) helps to reduce some of the bad chicken flavor.
2. If you don’t want to use milk to get rid of bad chicken flavor, here is another way to marinate the chicken; mix the chicken with 1 tsp of minced garlic, ¼ tsp of salt, ⅛ tsp of black pepper, and 1 pinch of ginger powder (optional). Add 2 Tbsp of water or cooking wine for some moisture.
3. To coat the chicken, mix the batter ingredients in a large bag. Shake the bag to mix everything together.
4. Add all of the marinated chicken to the flour mix and shake the bag: so the chicken will be evenly covered with the powder.
5. Take out the chicken from the bag and set the pieces aside while the oil is heating. You will have some leftover flour mixture in the bag; save it for later.
6. Pour the cooking oil in a deep frying pan and heat it on high.
7. By the time, the oil becomes hot, the flour coating of the chicken will be soggy. Coat each piece of chicken again with the remaining flour mixture right before frying.
8. Drop a little piece of the flour mixture to the heated oil, if it floats immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry the chicken. Carefully put the chicken into the oil.
9. Fry the chicken on high for several minutes (8 to 10 minutes) until the pieces become light brown. We will fry them twice, so you don’t have to fry them too long in this step. Take out the chicken, drain the oil, and set the pieces on a kitchen towel.
10. For the second frying, fry the chicken in hot oil again for several minutes (5 minutes) until they become golden brown. This time, make sure that the chicken is completely cooked. You can take out one piece and cut it in half with a knife to check if it is cooked.
11. Meanwhile, add all of the sauce ingredients together in a pan, except for the sesame seeds and cook it on medium.
12. Once the sauce starts to bubble, cook it for one more minute. The sauce amount is enough for only half of the chicken, so mix in half of the fried chicken into the sauce. Turn off the heat and cover the chicken with the sauce. If you want to season all of the chicken, double the sauce recipe.
13. Lastly, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of sesame seeds on top and mix.

And there you have it a recipe for seasoned and not seasoned Korean fried chicken that is delicious however you decide to eat it.





I hope that you will enjoy that dish because it is pretty much fusion food. The Korean take on Western food.

I can't promise when the next time I blog will be because I have got major exams in a month and they go for about a month. The next two months may be a bit quite, but I will try my best to keep on posting when I find the time.

So until next time, be happy, safe and healthy everyone!!!!

Pork Kimchi Jjigae 돼지고기 김치찌개 Dweji Gogi Kimchi Jjigae

It has been a LONG time since I have last blogged here. At least I think that it has been a while. A lot has been happening lately, I'm going to graduate in a week and in a month I have my uni entrance exams. Life is getting hectic but fum fun right now so I'm sorry for not posting in a while.

To make up for the lack of posts recently I will post a recipe today and tomorrow. So today I'm going yo start off with a simple but amazing Korean dish called Pork Kimchi Jjigae 돼지고기 김치찌개 (Dweji Gogi Kimchi Jjigae), you much remember the tuna one that I talked about before and even before that the one with tofu. Well if you don't...go and check them out.

Pork kimchi jjiage is the most popular kind of kimchi soup in Korea. The well-fermented kimchi, tender pork, and savory broth taste very delicious together, and is perfect for eating with rice as the temperature continues to drop as Autumn moves into winter.

Because I have posted about kimchi jjigae before, I will move on to the recipe.

Ingredients
2 Generous Cups Well Fermented Kimchi
2 Cups Water
½ Pack Tofu
¼ Cup Kimchi Broth
½ Cup Green Onions
⅛ Cup Red Hot Pepper (Optional)
1 Tbsp Hot Pepper Powder
½ Tbsp Sesame Oil
½ Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Garlic, Minced
¼ tsp Salt
1 Cup Pork
1 tsp Garlic, Minced
1 tsp Cooking Wine (Optional)
2 Pinches Salt
2 Pinches Black Pepper

Method
1. Chop 1 cup of pork it into bite-sized pieces.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the pork together - minced garlic, cooking wine, salt and black pepper. Marinate for about 10 minutes while you are preparing the other ingredients.
3. Obtain about 2 cups of well-fermented kimchi and chop it into 1cm pieces. It is important to use good kimchi for delicious kimchi soup.
4. Slice ½ pack of tofu into 1cm slices. Cut ½ cup worth of green onions into 1cm lengths. Cut ⅛ cup worth of red hot pepper thinly. If you do not want very spicy soup, skip the hot peppers.
5. Obtain ¼ cup of kimchi broth. Kimchi broth is the liquid from your jar of kimchi. If you do not have enough kimchi juice, add more kimchi, hot pepper powder, and water for this recipe.
6. Fry the marinated pork with ½ Tbsp of sesame oil in a heated pan on medium-high for about 3 minutes.
7. About 3 minutes later, the pork will lose its pink color. Then add the chopped kimchi, 1 Tbsp of hot pepper powder, and ½ Tbsp of cooking oil. Fry for another 3 minutes on medium-high.
8. Add 2 cups of water and ¼ cup of kimchi broth. Once it starts to boil, add 1 tsp of minced garlic and ¼ tsp of salt. Depending on the saltiness of your kimchi, adjust the salt amount for this recipe. Cook covered for about 10 minutes on medium-high.
9. Place the sliced tofu on top of the kimchi and cook covered for another 5 minutes. Occasionally pour some of the soup over the tofu so that the tofu will be flavored.
10. Add the chopped green onions and hot peppers. Cook covered for 2 minutes and then turn off the heat.

And there you have it, a delicious savory pork kimchi jjigae to serve with your rice.





I hope that you liked that recipe, because I absolutely do. It is perfect for the weather now which is not too cold but not too hot.

This will be all from me today, but like I said before I will be posting another recipe tomorrow. Look forward to it. And until next time, stay warm, healthy and happy.

Job's Tears Yulmu 율무

Hey guys, so it seems to have been a while since I last posted a recipe hasn't it? Well I only have 3 weeks for school left before I graduate and then there are exams that I really need to study for. So I am sorry for the lack of posts ><

Anyways, today I have an interesting recipe that I want to share with you guys. The recipe if for a drink. This drink is quite unique and peculiar, especially it's English name. The drink is called Job's Tears or Yulmu (율무).

Known as “Job’s tears” in English, the grain is contained within a hard, tear-shaped shell about the size of a pea (hence the name). The shells arethe size of beads and were good for making jewelry and bracelets, including rosary beads. It was in the monasteries of southern Europe where the rosary beads made from this plant came to be known as “Job’s tears.”

In Korea, they use the dried grains from the plant to make a thick tea known as yulmu cha (율무 차) or Job’s Tears tea.

There isn't much that I can say about the drink because it is mainly just a powdered drink that can be mixed with water produce a creamy grain drink.

Ingredients
2-3 tbsp of Job's Tears (yulmu 율무)
2 cups of water
pine nuts for garnish

Method
1. Wash and drain/dry a handful of kernels.
2. Brown on medium heat, stirring frequently for about 20 min; when it starts giving a pop sound, it's done.
3. Grind the grain in the food processor.
4. Put 2 cups of water into a saucepan and add 2 tbsps of the powdered Job's Tears. 5. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes.
6. You can add milk/honey to taste and pine nuts to garnish.

And there you have it, a healthy drink that you can indulge in on a cold day, or after you finish cooking it let it cool and serve it cold.

And sorry that I don't have photos today, but I can't fins any to my liking. Sorry xD
Anyways, until the next time that I post I hope that you all keep safe, happy and healthy.