Garlic Tongdak

Title

This is an old-school Korean fried chicken that's sold in traditional markets. You'll see street vendors with two large cauldrons of oil passing the fried chicken from one pot to another. This chicken is spatchcocked and double-fried, which creates a beautifully crisp crust while maintaining all the juiciness from the chicken since it's fried whole. I have so many fond memories of going to the market with my dad for this fried chicken.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

Batter

½ cup AP Flour

½ cup Corn starch 

½ tbsp turmeric powder

1 cup ice water

Garlic Sauce

5 garlic bulbs 

2 garlic cloves (optional)

1 tbsp olive oil 

½ tbsp sesame oil 

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp kosher salt 

Oil to fry 

Directions

**Garlic Sauce**

1. Cut the top off the garlic bulb.
2. Place the garlic bulbs on aluminium foil and drizzle in olive oil. Wrap it tightly and bake at 250C / 400F for 30 minutes
3. Squeeze out the baked garlic cloves. Add in rest of the ingredients. For more garlicky heat, microplane raw garlic in the sauce at the end. 

**Chicken**

1. Spatchcock the chicken. Cut down the center of the chicken breast. Pop open the center collar bone and flatten. Dislocate the joint connecting the thigh to the body so that the chicken lays flat. 
2. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and salt liberally. Keep it uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour, up to overnight. This process allows all the excess moisture to be drawn out of the chicken and a crispier fry. 
3. Prepare a large pot with ample oil to fry. Heat on high until the oil reaches 170C / 340F. (We’ll be frying it twice, once at a lower temperature around 160C/320F and again at 180C/355F. You want the oil to be higher because the temperature will drop once we put the chicken in!) If you don’t have a thermometer, fry a small piece of chicken in- the chicken should drop till the middle of the oil and slowly bounce back up, with a clear sizzling sound. 

4. Prepare the batter and dip the chicken. Make sure the batter coats all of the chicken. 
5. Gently drop the chicken into the oil. 
6. Using a sieve, fish out any of the excess batter that floats to the top. You might think that there’s not enough batter on the chicken and that the chicken looks.. naked. Trust the process, the batter should be so thin that it barely covers the chicken and the result will be super golden brown and crunchy. 
7. Fry on each side for about 10 minutes on each side. The cook time will depend on the size of the bird. It should be around 6 minutes per pound of meat. 
8. Take out once golden and let it rest for 10 minutes. 
9. Heat the oil back on high to 180C and double-fry again for 1 minute on each side.
10. Place the chicken on a wired rack and let it rest again.
11. Smother in the garlic sauce and enjoy!

Garlic Tongdak

4 from 622 votes

Recipe by Doobydobap Course: Late Night, DinnerCuisine: KoreanDifficulty: Medium

Yields

1

fried chicken

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken

• Batter

• ½ cup AP Flour

• ½ cup Corn starch

• ½ tbsp turmeric powder

• 1 cup ice water

• Garlic Sauce

• 5 garlic bulbs

• 2 garlic cloves (optional)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• ½ tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• Oil to fry

instructions

• Garlic Sauce
• Place the garlic bulbs on aluminium foil and drizzle in olive oil. Wrap it tightly and bake at 250C / 400F for 30 minutes
• Squeeze out the baked garlic cloves. Add in rest of the ingredients. For more garlicky heat, microplane raw garlic in the sauce at the end. 
• Chicken
• Spatchcock the chicken. Cut down the center of the chicken breast. Pop open the center collar bone and flatten. Dislocate the joint connecting the thigh to the body so that the chicken lays flat. 
• Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and salt liberally. Keep it uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour, up to overnight. This process allows all the excess moisture to be drawn out of the chicken and a crispier fry. 
• Prepare a large pot with ample oil to fry. Heat on high until the oil reaches 170C / 340F. (We’ll be frying it twice, once at a lower temperature around 160C/320F and again at 180C/355F. You want the oil to be higher because the temperature will drop once we put the chicken in!) If you don’t have a thermometer, fry a small piece of chicken in- the chicken should drop till the middle of the oil and slowly bounce back up, with a clear sizzling sound. 
• Prepare the batter and dip the chicken. Make sure the batter coats all of the chicken. 
• Gently drop the chicken into the oil. 
• Using a sieve, fish out any of the excess batter that floats to the top. You might think that there’s not enough batter on the chicken and that the chicken looks.. naked. Trust the process, the batter should be so thin that it barely covers the chicken and the result will be super golden brown and crunchy. 
• Fry on each side for about 10 minutes on each side. The cook time will depend on the size of the bird. It should be around 6 minutes per pound of meat. 
• Take out once golden and let it rest for 10 minutes. 
• Heat the oil back on high to 180C and double-fry again for 1 minute on each side.
• Place the chicken on a wired rack and let it rest again.
• Smother in the garlic sauce and enjoy!

Recipe Video

Notes

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