Yangnyeom Tongdak - Korean Fried Chicken

I knew I had to make Yangnyeom Tongdak after I saw the recipe in Maangchi's website. I was a bit skeptical in the beginning when I saw that she used potato flour and sweet glutinous flour to coat the chicken, because I thought it would make the chicken somehow chewy instead of crunchy. But seeing how Maangchi's fried chicken turned out in her video and as so far all the recipes I have tried from her site are never disappointing, I felt very encouraged to try it - And it was absolutely the right decision. The fried chicken together with the red sauce was totally delicious! One of the best fried chickens I know. I was positively surprised by how crunchy the chicken was. I even called my mum and asked her to try it too, and she loves it...!

I didn't use chicken drumsticks nor chicken wings, because my husband doesn't like eating chicken with bones, that's why I used chicken thigh fillet cut into small cubes. I changed the recipe for the sauce quite here and there because I lacked some ingredients, such as tomato ketchup and rice syrup, but the sauce still tasted absolutely delicious...!!

Ingredients

Korean Fried Chicken

• 1 kilogram chicken thigh fillet, cut into small cubes
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup potato starch powder (I used tapioca flour)
  
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup glutinous flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• Oil for frying the chicken
• Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
  

The Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Korean hot pepper paste
• 1 tablespoon honey (or more if you don't find it sweet enough)
• 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Tonkatsu sauce
• 50 ml boiling water

Instructions

Fried Chicken

• Season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.
• Add all dry ingredients: tapioca flour, glutinous flour, all-purpose flour and baking soda, plus the egg.
• Mix everything well. When you notice that it's too dry, add some drops of water, just to make sure that the chicken chunks are well coated.
• Fry the chicken over high heat for 10 minutes.

The Sauce

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add the minced garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds under medium heat.
• Add hot pepper sauce, honey, Tonkatsu sauce, apple vinegar and boiling water. Cook for 1 minute.

How to serve

• Toss in the freshly fried chicken chunks to the sauce. Coat well.
• Sprinkle the chicken with toasted sesame seeds.
• Serve with rice and vegetables.

I just bought a bento box some time ago and I was dying to use it, that's why I arranged the Yangnyeom Tongdak in my new bento box together with some vegetables, orange slices and two onigiri :). My first bento...! I will certainly make more bentos in the future, and probably even some cute ones too. So stay tuned :D.