Chicken Wing with Korean Flavors

What could be better than a glass of cold beer with chicken wings on a hot summer night?

Today I made Korean-flavored chicken wings with Ganjang (in Korean, "간장") and Gochujang (in Korean, "고추장"). Ganjang is Korean name for soy sauce, and Gochujang is Korean hot chili paste - you can find them easily in any Asian market. Gochujang is made of red chili powder, fermented soybean, malt, grain syrup, sweet rice, salt and water, and is fermented from a few weeks to over years. Since Gochujang is made with not just chili but many sweet components, it has subtle sweet flavor even after the fermenting period.

Soy sauce or hot chili paste flavored chickens are pretty popular in Korea. Most of the chicken places in Korea coat the chickens with corn starch and dip fry them for extra crispy texture. Then, the fried chickens are tossed in various flavored sauces.

Without any doubt, those chickens are DELICIOUS! But, since I am trying to eat healthier nowadays, I skipped the dip frying part, and instead boiled the chicken in flavored water, marinated the chicken, then baked it in the oven. There is 0% fat or oil in this recipe (except the fat from chicken skin). Also, I cut down the sugar amount significantly, compared to most Korean-flavored chicken recipes.

Oh, and I added a mini recipe for fresh tomato salsa for your tortilla chips in today's posting. Hope you can chill out this evening with delicious chicken wings, refreshing tomato salsa & tortilla chips, and a glass of icy beer!

Chicken Wing with Korean Flavors
(Yield: 18-20 chicken wings / Cooking time: one hour)

Ingredients:
+ 18-20 chicken wings
+ 1/2 lemon
+ 1 bay leaf
+ 10 black peppercorns
+ 1 whole clove
+ 3-4 garlic cloves
+ salt

Ganjang(=soy sauce) Marinade + 1 Tbsp low-sodium Ganjang (=soy sauce) + 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic + 1 Tbsp finely minced onion + 1 Tbsp rice vinegar + 1 tsp sugar* + 1 Tbsp corn starch

Gochujang Marinade + 1 Tbsp Gochujang + 1 tsp Korean red pepper powder + 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic + 2 Tbsp finely minced onion + 1 tsp sugar* + 1 Tbsp corn starch

* This marinade is not sweet, so if you prefer sweet flavor, add 2-3 tsp of sugar instead of 1 tsp.

Fresh Tomato Salsa for Tortilla Chip
Chop two tomatoes, mince one clove of garlic, finely chop one small shallot (or red onion), finely chop one jalapeño (remove seeds if you want milder salsa), chop some cilantro leaves. Juice one half lime. Mix all together, and season with salt and pepper. SIMPLE!



Procedures:
1. Cut the chicken wing joint if needed, and clean the chicken wings by removing any feathers or impurities.


2. Fill a pot with enough water to boil chicken wings, and add a bay leaf, pepper corns, clove, garlic cloves, and a half lemon. Bring the water to a boil. Add cleaned chicken wings and cook for about 5-6 minutes. This procedure will remove any blood on the chicken wings, and also add more flavor.


3. Drain the water and rinse the chicken wings with cold running water. Season lightly with salt.


4. To make it easy to clean, I added all the ingredients for each marinade into plastic bags; one for Ganjang marinade and the other for Gochujang marinade.


5. Divide the chicken wings between Ganjang marinade bag and Gochujang marinade bag. Shake the bag well to coat all the wings with the marinade.


6. Place the wing in a fridge for 20 minutes. While waiting for the wings to be marinated, preheat your oven at 420°F (215°C).

7. After 20 minutes, add 1 Tbsp of corn starch to each bag, and shake well again. Place a wired rack in a parchment-lined baking sheet. Arrange chicken wings over the wired rack.


8. Bake the chicken wings in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until the chicken wings are cooked and the skins are browned. While baking, flip the wings once to bake them evenly.



Enjoy~