We Kitchen-Tested Erwan Heussaff's CLOY-inspired Korean Fried Chicken Recipe

Korean heartthrob Hyun Bin is the talk of the town these days, fresh from the news that he’s the new endorser of Smart and Bench. Naturally, this is triggering a renewed interest in his most recent hit series, Crash Landing On You. As we're going through our umpteenth rewatch, the foodie in us is distracted by scene upon scene of our favorite actors biting into lots of delicious Korean fried chicken, sometimes glazed, sometimes not. Frankly, the craving is getting a little too strong for comfort! 

 

We’d love to make Korean-style fried chicken in our very own kitchen, so we were really happy when Erwan Heussaff made his own interpretation after watching a lot of Korean chicken videos. Here he is with recipes for the plain and glazed versions inspired by the fried chicken in CLOY.

Metro.Style's nutritionist and recipe tester, Cecille Esperanza, tried out the recipes and shared these detailed notes that come complete with ingredient quantities that are sure to be helpful to beginner cooks. 

Korean Fried Chicken 

Serves 6 

1 whole chicken, (about 1.2 kilos), cut into pieces

salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup vodka

2 cups milk

cooking oil, for deep frying

Frying mixture

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1. In a bowl, marinate chicken pieces in salt, black pepper and vodka for about 6 hours.

2. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cornstarch and baking powder. Set aside.

3. In a deep fryer, heat oil up to 150°C

4. Add milk and 1/3 of the frying mix to the marinated chicken (it should be thick like a pancake batter), coat chicken fully.

5. Dredge battered chicken into the dry frying powder mixture.

6. Fry chicken pieces, adding to the heated oil one by one without over crowding. Cook about 5 to 8 minutes.

7. Rest the fried chicken for 15 minutes.

8. Heat the oil again for the second time up to 175°C to 180°C.

9. Fry again the chicken until golden in color and crispy. Drain excess oil using paper towels.

Variation 1: with chili Sauce

3 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon garlic paste

1 cup sweet catsup

1 tablespoon Gochujang

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

2 tablespoons brown sugar

½ tablespoon chili flakes or powder

¼ cup water

toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

chopped spring onion, for garnish

1. In a pan, heat oil and sauté garlic, sweet catsup, gochujang, soy sauce and brown sugar. Add chili powder . Pour in water and simmer. Adjust seasoning according to your taste.

2. In a deep bowl, toss fried chicken and chili sauce. Make sure chicken pieces are all coated well.

3. Transfer onto serving platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onions before serving.

Variation 2: with lemon-butter sauce

3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon ginger paste

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon miso paste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 ½  tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

¼ cup butter

lemon zest, for garnish

1. In a pan, heat oil and sauté garlic and ginger Add rice wine vinegar, miso paste, lemon juice, soy sauce and honey.  

2. Add butter and simmer until it slightly  thickens. Adjust seasoning according to your taste.

3. In a deep bowl, toss fried chicken and lemon-butter sauce. Make sure chicken are coated well.

4. Transfer onto serving platter, sprinkle with lemon zest before serving.

So now you can indulge in DIY Korean fried chicken while you binge on Crash Landing On You.