Super Crispy Korean Fried Chicken (Original and Spicy Gochujang)

CHICKEN

• 2.5lbs/1.25kg bone in, skin on chicken thighs 
• 20g or 1Tbsp salt for chicken + 15g or 3/4Tbsp for dredge
• 10g or 1 Tbsp ginger, grated/minced 
• 10g or 2 cloves garlic, grated/minced
• Light olive oil
• 350g or 3c ap flour + about a cup or enough to coat chicken
• 350g or 1 3/4c potato starch
• 10g or 2tsp baking powder 
• 8g or 1.25Tbsp onion powder
• 8g or 1Tbsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut thighs into 4 pieces, depending on the size of the thigh. Toss to evenly coat with 20g salt, ginger, and garlic. Refrigerate for 15-20min. 
2. Fill a large, heavy bottomed pot with 3” or so/7cm of oil. For my 6.75 pot, i use about 3L. More importantly, oil should be no more than 3” or 7cm from the top of the pot. Preheat over medium heat. You’re looking for the oil to reach a frying temp of 350F/176C. 
3. Transfer chicken to a towel and try well on all sides. 
4. Whisk together ap flour, potato starch, 15g salt, baking powder, garlic powder and onion powder in a large bowl.
5. Into a second bowl add about ⅓ of the dry flour mixture and just enough water until  the consistency is somewhere between loose pancake batter and cream. 
6. Add a drizzle or about a cup of the wet mixture back into the dry flour mixture. Stir and fluff until it’s crumbly and and very little powdery dry flour remains. 
7. Add the dried chicken into an empty bowl and toss with enough flour to coat each piece well. Toss between your hands to remove excess flour and set chicken on a tray to begin battering/dredging process.
8. One by one, drop each piece of chicken into the wet batter to evenly coat. Shake/drain off any excess and move into the crumbly/craggy “dry” mixture to coat. Place on a tray. 
9. Carefully drop thighs into preheated oil, making sure that chicken isn’t touching - do this in 2 batches if needed. Fry for 7min. While drying, check temp and adjust if needed to keep oil at 350F/176C. Remove chicken from oil and drain on wire rack. 
10. Increase oil heat to 375F/190C and lower chicken back into oil to cook for another 5min until golden brown. 
11. Brush gochujang sauce onto as many of the pieces as you’d like. 

GOCHUJANG SAUCE

• 60g or 3 1/3Tbsp  soy sauce 
• 40g or 1/4c Tbsp sugar
• 110g 1/3c  honey
• 100g or 2Tbsp gochujang  
• 60g or 1/4c mirin
• 30g or 2 Tbsp hot sauce
• 20g or 2Tbsp ginger, grated/minced
• 20g or 4-5 cloves garlic, grated/minced
• 200g or just under 1c water 

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine ingredients in a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer over high/med-high for about 15 minutes. Sauce should have reduced by 4-5 times. 
2. Brush onto fried chicken and garnish with sesame seeds.