Padak – A Crispy Fried Chicken Delight

A few years ago, this recipe became so popular in Korea that almost every chicken restaurant included it on their menu. It’s known as Pa-dak in Korean! Double-frying chicken to get an extra crispy skin is called padak. Also, it has finely sliced spring onions on top, and a sweet-tangy Asian sauce coats it.

Thus, the combination of flavours in this recipe is what I adore. Therefore, you get the juicy chicken first. We are all familiar with the flavour. After that, a cool burst from the spring onions. So, these strips of spring onions serve to counterbalance the fried chicken’s monotonous taste. You will finally taste the tangy and sweet sauce. This fried chicken meal is one of my favourites because of the flavour combination.

In Seoul, the dressing sauce comes in several varieties. One kind is a mild wasabi sauce, but it’s too strong for me. So, now, we’ll employ the alternative style, which is a vinaigrette sauce. It tastes like a sesame salad dressing from Asia.

So, this is a quick and simple recipe for green onion chicken. It’s a fried chicken dish with scallions from South Korea. Thus, it is simple to get ready, and beneficial to health. You may also make this dish in the convenience of your own home

Chicken for Padak

You can use any variety of chicken you like for padak. In South Korea, fried chicken restaurants employ skinless, boneless chicken breast meat. To create this classic Korean Padak  Chicken, I prefer to use dark meat from boneless, skinless chickens. I prefer the juicy meat found on chicken thighs. Boneless skin-on chicken thighs are not always available at Western supermarket stores. You can always ask the people in the Korean chicken shop in your area for a specific cut. Additionally, you can use boneless thighs with chicken skin if you don’t mind the excess fat. If you’d like, you can also use chicken wings. You can use any cut of chicken that you have in your home.

Coating for Padak

Potato starch is the most essential ingredient for crispy chicken padak pieces! For the crispiest fried chicken pieces, coat your chicken with potato starch before cooking it in an Asian fryer. When compared to using regular all-purpose flour for battered chicken, it’s like night and day!

Potato starch contains a little more grit and makes crunchy tiny balls when deep-fried. It is crunchier and crispier but lighter! I promise you this is the greatest recipe for a crunchy crust if you follow this simple step! Additionally, potato starch works really well in place of eggs for frying chicken!

Ingredients for Double-Frying Your Chicken

  • Four finely sliced chicken thighs
  • 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine or Soju
  • Half a teaspoon of curry powder
  • Half a teaspoon of garlic
  • ½ teaspoon of cayenne
  • ½ teaspoon powdered paprika
  • two cups of cornflour or potato starch
  • ½ teaspoon ground white pepper a small pinch each of salt and black pepper
  • Depending on the size of your frying pot or deep fryer, use one egg oil to fry.

Directions

  • Cut chicken thighs without bones into thin, bite-sized strips.
  • Ingredients for the marinade: Shaoxing wine or soju, salt, and ground white pepper. Give the marinade at least half an hour.
  • After the marinating process for the chicken, take out of the marinade.
  • Make the Korean crispy fried chicken batter in a separate bowl. Add the dry batter, which consists of salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, curry, and potato starch. Blend thoroughly.
  • Coat the chicken pieces evenly by adding them to the seasoned flour mixture.
  • To make a second coating, add an egg to the same mixing bowl. Then, mix the chicken pieces with the egg and dry ingredients.
  • Heat up a frying pan or deep fryer with oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You can use a digital food thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. You can also use the back of a wooden spoon to test the oil’s readiness. Your oil is ready if bubbles appear.

Initial Fry:

The padak chicken should be deep-fried for five minutes. Keep everything organised and work in tiny batches. Take the crispy chicken out of the KFC deep frying and let it sit for five minutes on a wire rack or piece of kitchen paper.

Second Fry:

Double-fry to get an even crispier texture. This time, increase the heat to 375°F and deep-fried until the food is crispy and beautifully browned. Watch intently as you fry for three to five minutes. Take the flawlessly oil-free deep-fried chicken out of the fryer and transfer it to a paper towel-lined dish to absorb any remaining oil. Set aside for later.

How to Make Sliced Green Onions

Cut your green onions thinly. You can use an instrument for your convenience. Compared to doing it by hand, shredding a large number of green onions is considerably simpler and faster with a green onion slice cutter! Using a kitchen knife to manually cut scallions is not a very satisfying task. It requires a lot more time. The surface of sliced green onions is slimy. It requires a lot of work!

Usually, we have to just use the green parts of the onions. So, put the green onions, thinly sliced, in a medium-sized dish of cool water. This will then assist in lessening the harshness and guarantee that the green onions stay crispy! Utilising a salad spinner, drain any extra water after soaking in the cold water bath.Read Also:

Korean grocery stores sell julienned scallions, which is more handy. The majority of Korean supermarkets carry pa muchim in addition to other side dishes if you’re wondering where to buy it. However, I would much rather make this myself in the allotted five minutes because it’s so simple and inexpensive! Spread the green onions on your padak.

Vinaigrette Sauce

  • 5 minced garlic cloves
  • Thin soy sauce, 3 tablespoons
  • 1 tablespoon mustard dijon
  • One tablespoon rice or white vinegar and two tablespoons mirin
  • 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
  • In a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the fried chicken sauce (light soy sauce, dijon mustard, mirin, water, sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and minced garlic). Taste and make necessary adjustments.

Padak FAQs

1.    What Does Padak Mean?

Pa Dak, a delicacy of Korean Fried Chicken that is often overlooked, consists of popcorn chicken topped with a salad of green onions and a strong sauce of garlic and mustard. Thus, the translation of “Pa” is “spring onion/scallions” and “Dak” is “chicken,” meaning “Spring Onion Chicken.”

2.    Can I Air Fry Chicken for Padak?

Instead of double-frying the chicken, you can air fry it for the first 10 minutes at 375 F if you enjoy Korean chicken cooked that way. After 410 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165F, flip the Korean fried chicken dish in the air fryer a second time at 400F.

Leave a Comment