About a month ago, at a regular gathering with the other foreigners in this area, we went to a Chinese restaurant. We usually order sweet and sour pork as a main meal to share and individuals order small meals like fried rice or Jajangmyun. Then two of the adventurous Canadian couple suggested we have something different than sweet and sour pork, and they suggested we have deep fried chicken in garlic sauce instead. They said it was really delicious. Michael and I didn’t mind, but others were a bit iffy.

The dish was served and it looked so glorious. I hadn’t had it for a long time, so I almost forgot what it tasted like. The chicken had golden fried skin, very crispy texture, and slightly sweet – sour and spicy – garlicky taste. Everyone totally loved it, except one person.

Then a couple of days ago, I really craved that dish and I tried to make it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right amount of starch powder, so I had to change the method a little bit. Sadly it turned out that it wasn’t as crispy as what I had at the Chinese restaurant, but it was still delicious in a sour, garlicky, morish way. I still have some ingredients left over and bought a new pack of starch powder, so I am going to make one more dish, hopefully improved, this week sometime.

Ingredients for 2 people (If you are having other small meals as well, then you can share between 3 people)

(Expected prep time – 15 minutes, Cooking time – 30 minutes ; You can reduce the time if you have a big frying machine and bigger kitchen)

Meat and extras

• Chicken breast 500 g
• 1/2 a red capsicum
• 1/2 a green capsicum
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 green chili (spicy)
• 1/2 a lemon
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Some vegetable oil for deep frying

Marinade Chicken (mix these together in a bowl)

• Refined rice wine – 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce – 1 tbsp
• Pepper 3 sprinkles
• Salt 3 sprinkles

Batter

• Starch powder (I used potato starch) – 3 tbsp
• White flour (I used all purpose flour) – 3 tbsp
• Curry powder – 1 tsp
• Water – 5 tbsp
• 1 egg, beaten

Garlic sauce (mix these together in a bowl)

• Vinegar (I used apple vinegar) – 2 tbsp
• Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
• Oyster sauce – 2 tbsp
• Honey – 2 tbsp
• Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
• Minced garlic – 1 tbsp
• Ginger powder – 1 tsp
• Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
• Lemon liquid – 1 tsp

Prep

1. Rinse the chicken in cold water.
2. Cut the chicken into bit size pieces, add the marinade sauce then soak it for 15 minutes.
3. Cut the capsicum and onion into small cubes.
4. Take the seeds out from the chili and thin slice it diagonally.
5. Thin slice the lemon.
6. Make the batter. (Sieve the powders and flour first, then add the water and egg, and mix them well in a big bowl)
7. Put the chicken into the batter bowl, mix it well.

Cooking (you will need two woks)

1. Pre heat the wok (a) for 20 seconds.
2. Put the vegetable oil into the wok and when it starts to boil, add one battered chicken piece.
3. When it floats, add more chicken and fry all the chicken.
4. Put the fried chicken onto some kitchen paper to soak some oil off.
5. Put the olive oil into the wok (b), add the chili, stir fry it briefly, then take out the chili. (It was for flavour. so you can throw it away.)
6. Add the capsicum and onion, stir fry it.
7. Add the garlic sauce and stir it well. (making the garlic sauce is done here)
8. Deep fry all the chicken once more (in wok (a) ), for a crispy texture.
9. Soak some oil off with kitchen paper then serve the chicken on the plate.
10. Add the garlic sauce onto the chicken and add the lemon for topping.

I hope you like it, we certainly did!

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Sweet and Sour Chicken (Tangsuyuk in Korean)

Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)

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I mentioned earlier on one of my posts, Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean) that there are several types of Jajangmyun, and this Samsun Jajangmyun is one of them. Samsun (三鮮) means 3 fresh ingredients and most Korean Chinese restaurants use seafood. So another Korean name for it is Haemul Jajang. (Haemul means seafood in English.)

The cooking method is nearly the same as Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean), just some ingredients, and treating those ingredients, are different.

Ingredients for 2 people

(Expected preparation time, excluding shellfish soaking time- 5 minutes, Cooking time – 20 minutes)

• Noodles for 2 people (I always use Kalguksu noodles)
• Shrimps 90g
• Little-neck clam 200g (Bajirak in Korean)
• 1 small squid
• 1 onion
• 1 medium potato
• 1/4 a zucchini
• 1 leaf from a cabbage
• Black bean paste (Chunjang in Korean) – 2 tbsp
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 2 tbsp (I used dark brown sugar)
• Cooking syrup (corn syrup) – 1 tsp
• Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
• Water 2 and 1/2 cups
• Starch water (Mix of starch 2 tbsp +water 2 tbsp)

Most restaurants add sea cucumber, but I am not a big fan of it. So I didn’t add any.

Preparation

1. Rinse the shrimps and squid in cold water.
2. Soak the shellfish in cold water for about 1 hour. (add some salt in the water)
3. Cut the squid into pieces. (I cut it in ring shapes.)
4. Cut the onion, potato, and zucchini into small cubes.
5. Cut the cabbage into medium pieces.

Cooking (You will need a wok, a frying pan and a pot.)

1. Boil the water (2 and 1/2 cups) in the pot, and parboil the seafood (shrimps, shellfish, squid)

2. Drain the seafood, but we will use 2 cups of broth from the boiled water.

3. Preheat the wok.

4. Add some oil and the potatoes and stir fry it.

5. Add the zucchini, onion, and cabbage, stir it.

6. Preheat the frying pan and add the olive oil and black bean paste.

7. Stir no.6 on medium heat for 1 minute.

8. Scoop out the black bean paste without the oil. Add it to the wok.

9. Mix the vegetables with the black bean paste.

10. Add the cooking syrup, sugar, and rice wine into the wok. Stir it.

11. Add the broth and boil it.

12. Add the seafood.

13. Add the starch water into the wok. Stir it. (It is the final stage of making the sauce.)

14. Boil the water in a pot.

15. Add the noodles when it starts to boil.

16. Boil them for about 3 minutes. (You can start doing this at stage 10)

17. Rinse them in cold water.

18. Put them into a bowl.

19. Add the sauce on top of the noodles.

20. You can serve it itself or decorate it with some cucumber slice, egg or green beans. In my case I used some radish sprouts.

21. Mix the sauce and the noodles well with chopsticks.

22. Dig in. (It is ideal to have them with yellow pickled radish. Apparently it helps digestion. Also mix it up quickly before the noodles get swollen.)

This is a picture of the noodle package I use for this meal.

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1. Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)
2. Instant Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)
3. Spicy Noodles with Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Ramyun in Korean)

There are also various recipes to cook other types of Jajangmyun, and I am going to try them all some other time. I am very excited about that. Are you?

Ingredients for 2 people

(Expected preparation time – 15 minutes, Cooking time – 20 to 25 minutes)

• Noodles for 2 people (I used the left over from when I made Kalguksu)
• Pork 100g (At the supermarket, the pork packet says “for curry or jajang” in Korean. It is cut in cubes already.)

-Pork Marinating Sauce-

• Refined rice wine – 1 tsp
• Salt 2 sprinkles
• Pepper 2 sprinkles
• Ginger 2 sprinkles

• 1 onion
• 1 medium size potato
• 1/4 a zucchini
• 1/4 a carrot
• 3 leaves from 1/3 size cabbage (1 leaf from one cabbage)
• Black bean paste (Chunjang in Korean) – 3 tbsp
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 2 tbsp (You can reduce it, it was a bit too sweet.)
• Cooking syrup – 1 tbsp
• Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
• Water 2 cups
• Starch water (Mix of starch 2 tbsp +water 2 tbsp)

Preparations

1. Rinse the pork in cold water.
2. Add the pork marinating sauce onto the pork. Mix them well.
3. Cut the onion, potato, zucchini and carrot into small cubes.
4. Cut the cabbage into medium size pieces.

Cooking (You will need a wok, a frying pan and a pot.)

1. Pre heat the wok.

2. Add some oil and the pork and stir fry it.

3. Add the carrots and potatoes, stir it.

4. Add the zucchinis, onions, and cabbages, stir it.

5. Pre heat the frying pan and add the olive oil and black bean paste.

6. Stir no.5 on medium heat for 1 minute.

7. Scoop out the black bean paste without the oil. Add it to the wok.

8. Mix the vegetables with the black bean paste.

9. Add the cooking syrup, sugar, and rice wine into the wok. Stir it.

10. Add the water and boil it.

11. Add the starch water into the wok. Stir it. (It is the final stage of making sauce.)

12. Boil the water in a pot.

13. Add the noodles when it starts to boil.

14. Boil them for about 3 minutes. (You can start doing this at stage 10)

15. Rinse them in cold water.

16. Put them into a bowl.

17. Add the jajang sauce on top of the noodles.

18. You can serve it itself or decorate it with some cucumber slice, egg or green beans. In my case I used some radish sprouts and the egg.

19. Mix the sauce and the noodles well with chopsticks.

20. Dig in. (It is ideal to have them with yellow pickled radish. Apparently it helps digestion. Also dig it up quickly before the noodles get swollen.)

You can serve the dish with some rice, like the picture below if you want. Its name would be “Jajangbap” then. (Bap means cooked rice.)

You can learn more about Jajangmyun from Wikipedia

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It has a very more-ish taste and a crispy texture. It took less time and hassle to cook than last time. I am glad to see that I am improving. However it left me one problem. My precious wok burnt from the oil and it doesn’t seem to wear off. I tried carbonate soda and vinegar, if you have some better ideas, please do tell me.

Ingredients for 2 people

-Meat

• Chicken breast – 5 pieces (about 500g)

-Marinade sauce (mix the following together or add them onto the chicken straight away)

• Ginger powder -2 tsp
• Refined rice wine (or any cooking wine) – 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce – 2 tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Pepper 2 sprinkles
• Parsley powder 2 sprinkles

-Coating batter

• Starch powder 1 and 1/4 cup
• Water 1 and 1/4 cup
• 2 Egg white

-Fruit and Vegetables (You don’t have to follow the capsicum’s color. That was what I had in my fridge)

• 1/4 small yellow capsicum
• 1/2 medium green capsicum
• 1/2 big orange capsicum
• 1/2 a cucumber
• 1/2 an onion
• 1/4 a carrot
• 5 slices of canned pineapple

-Sweet and Sour sauce (mix all sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl except the mix of the starch water.)

• Water 200 ml
• 200 ml pineapple juice from the can
• Sugar 4 tbsp
• Soy sauce 3 tbsp
• Vinegar 2 tbsp
• Mix of starch 2 tbsp + water 2 tbsp

Preparation

-For Chicken

1. Wash the chicken in cold water.
2. Thin slice it.
3. Put it into a bowl.
4. Add marinating sauce. Marinate it for about 15 minutes.

-For coating batter

1. Add the starch powder and water in a big bowl. Mix it well.
2. Leave it for about 1 hour or more. (until the starch sinks in the bowl completely.)
3. When the starch and water separate, pour out the water.
4. Stir the starch then add the egg white. Mix it well.

-For fruit and vegetables

1. Wash all the vegetables.
2. Thin slice the carrot.
3. Cut the other vegetables into pieces.
4. Cut the pineapple rings into pieces.

Cooking (You need one deep frying wok and one pot.)

1. Pour the chicken out into the batter bowl. Mix it well.

2. Pre heat the wok for about 20 seconds.

3. Pour some oil into the wok. (a lot – It is deep frying)

4. When the oil starts to boil, put one battered chicken piece in it.

5. If it starts to fry, add more of the chicken.

6. When you finish frying the chicken, put them onto a plate. (On kitchen paper to soak some oil out.)

7. Stir fry the carrot and onion in a pot.

8. Add all the other vegetables and pineapple in the pot and cook it for about 2 minutes.

9. Pour the sweet and sour sauce (except the mix of the starch water) into the pot.

10. Boil the pot and add the mix of the starch water when it starts to boil. When it gets thick turn the heat off.

11. Deep fry all the chicken again. It is crispy and will have a golden color if you do.

12. Serve it on the dish, with the sweet and sour sauce and veggies either over it or separately for dipping.

Tips

1. I think the key point to make crispy tangsuyuk is the coating batter. Make sure you use 1:1 of water and starch. Also make sure that you separate the water and starch after one hour of soaking.
2. When you fry the chicken for the first time fry it on medium heat and when you fry the chicken for the second time fry it on high heat for a short time.
3. To keep the chicken crispy for longer, don’t leave the chicken under the sweet and sour sauce too long.

Related post

Sweet and Sour Chicken 1

Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Marinated Chicken Stir Fry with Gochujang Sauce (Dak galbi)

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1. Sweet and Sour Chicken 1 (Tangsuyuk in Korean)
2. Deep Fried Chicken in Garlic Sauce (Ggan Pung Gi in Korean)
3. Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)

At the Chinese restaurant, this meal sells for about 5000 won. (US $5.30) I think it is expensive, though mushrooms are as expensive as pork, so I guess it is fair.

Ingredients for 2 people

(Preparation time : 5 minutes, Cooking time : 7 minutes)

• 4 button mushrooms
• 5 shiitake mushrooms (Pyogo Beosot in Korean)
• 1 enoki mushrooms (Paeng-ee Beosot in Korean)
• Shelled shrimps 100g
• 1/2 an onion
• 1/4 red capsicum and 1/4 yellow capsicum
• 1 garlic
• 1 cup of water
• Starch water (mix of starch 2 tbsp and water 2 tbsp)
• Soy sauce 2 tsp
• Refined rice wine (or any cooking wine) 2 tsp
• Oyster sauce 1 tsp
• Pepper 2 sprinkles
• Olive oil 15 ml
• Steamed rice for 2 people

Preparation

1. Thin slice all vegetables. (except enoki mushroom)

2. Mince the garlic.
3. Rinse the shrimps in cold water.

Cooking

1. Pre heat the wok.

2. Put the olive oil into the wok.

3. Put the garlic into the wok. Stir it until it goes brownish.

4. Add the soy sauce and refined rice wine into the wok. Stir it for short time.

5. Add the shiitake mushrooms and button mushrooms into the wok. Stir it.

6. Add the oyster sauce, shrimps, onion and capsicums. Stir it.

7. Add the water. boil it for 30 seconds.

8. Add the starch water. Stir it for 20 seconds. (It goes thick pretty fast.)

9. Add the pepper and enoki mushrooms. (You can adjust the taste with some salt)

10. Serve it on the plate.

Related posts:

1. King Oyster Mushrooms and Prawns on Rice
2. Stir Fried Calamari Rings on Rice (Ojingeo Deopbap in Korean)
3. Stir fried Kimchi and Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap in Korean)