How to make Colm O'Gorman's delicious Korean-style popcorn chicken

And make the crispy potatoes too - if you want to go to carb heaven

The secret to really good popcorn chicken is to fry it twice. As you are using small chunks of chicken, it only takes a few minutes to cook. For this recipe, I first marinate the chicken in rice wine, garlic, ginger and soy sauce and then toss it in potato flour, before frying it twice for no more than two minutes each time. 

You will adore the crispy flavourful batter, especially when it is glazed with my beautiful sweet and spicy sauce. If you do not have any potato flour, you can just use cornflour instead. The one ingredient you should not skip though is the gochujang. I have repeatedly waxed lyrically about this gorgeous Korean chilli sauce before in this column, if you have not yet tried it, you must. It is my favourite chilli sauce, and very versatile. It is amazing on a steak, great on a grilled cheese sandwich, fantastic in stir fry sauces, I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

You can buy gochujang from most Asian supermarkets, though it is also very easy to make at home. 

My popcorn chicken is a perfect snack in front of the TV on a Friday night, but if you want to make a meal of it, serve it with some plain boiled white rice and steamed green vegetables. They are perfect accompanies to the sweet and sticky chicken. 

If you fancy being extra indulgent, have it with some golden roasted cubes of potatoes, a kind of Korean take on patatas bravas. Peel a few potatoes per person and cut them into two-centimetre cubes. Toss the potatoes in a little olive oil and roast them in an air fryer or oven at 200°C until golden brown. Make a gochujang mayo by stirring some gochujang through some mayonnaise, taste as you go to get the spice level you like, and spoon some over the roast potatoes. Finish your potatoes off with some grated cheddar and chopped spring onions and you will be in carb heaven.

Korean-style popcorn chicken

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

My popcorn chicken is a perfect snack in front of the TV on a Friday night, but if you want to make a meal of it, serve it with some plain boiled white rice and steamed green vegetables

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Korean

Ingredients

• 500g boneless, skinless chicken thigh and/or breast fillets

• 30ml rice wine or sherry

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

• Fresh ground black pepper

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 150g potato flour

•  To fry the chicken:

• 1 litre sunflower oil

• For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp Gochujang chilli sauce

• 3 tbsp ketchup

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 clove garlic

• 50g honey

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp soy sauce 

• To serve:

• Chopped spring onion

• Some toasted sesame seeds

Method

1. Grate two cloves of garlic into a mixing bowl. Add the grated ginger, rice wine and a good grind of black pepper. Mix well to combine. Cut the chicken into two to three centimetre sized chunks, add to the bowl and stir well to coat the chicken. Let the meat marinade for about thirty minutes.

2. While the chicken is marinading, make your sauce. Grate the garlic, pop it into another bowl along with all the other ingredients and whisk it all together. Set it aside for now. Toast a few tablespoons of sesame seeds in a dry pan until the are golden brown. Once they are ready, take them off the heat, pop them into a bowl and set aside until you are ready to serve.

3. When your chicken has marinated for at least thirty minutes, heat the sunflower oil to 180c in a large saucepan or wok. Place a wire rack over a baking tray or line it with kitchen paper.  Put the potato flour or cornflour onto a wide plate or pasta bowl. Dredge the chicken pieces a few at a time in the flour. Carefully lower them into the hot fat, again, a few at a time. Do not crowd the pan, you will need to fry the chicken in batches, about three batches should be enough to cook it all.  Fry the chicken for three minutes, then use a slotted spoon to carefully remove it from the pan. Place them on the wire rack or kitchen paper to drain as you give the rest of the chicken its first fry.

4. Check the temperature of the oil between batches as it can cool down a fair bit as it cooks the chicken. Make sure to bring the temperature back up to 180°C before your fry another batch. This is crucial if you want crispy chicken. When all the chicken has had its first fry, and you have let the last batch drain for about five minutes, you can give the chicken its final fry. If you are using a decent-sized pan you should be able to finish frying it all at the same time this time. Again, make sure the oil is at 180°C before you put the chicken in. Fry it for no more than another two minutes until it is golden and crispy. Remove it from the pan and let it drain on your wire rack or some fresh kitchen paper for just a few minutes.

5. Wash and thinly slice a few spring onions. Warm your sauce through. Put the hot popcorn chicken in a big bowl, pour over the warm sauce and toss the crispy chicken to coat it well. Serve the chicken straight away in warm bowls, with some spring onion and toasted sesame seeds scattered over the top.