When parties are convened, a basket of dakgangjeong sounds like a perfect choice – after all, one can never go wrong with these sweet crispy chicken bites. In the old times, dakgangjeong was made with an entire chicken cut up to smaller pieces but today the best of Korean friend chicken bits are either the boneless types of the wings. Ah, quite the sinful treat there.
Dakgangjeong is deeply rooted in Korean food tradition. Dak (닭) stands for chicken, and gangjeong, curiously, is a hangwa or a Korean traditional confectionary served during important life milestones and cultural celebrations. The glutinous rice flour is the heart of gangjeong, producing deep-fried rice puffs following quite a tedious cooking process that lasts days. The coating is honey and rolled in a bed of nuts, seeds, pollen or spice powders. Your choice.
There are several other ingredients that you can use to add texture and taste to the dakgangjeong, but the crucial ingredients are brown sugar, honey or corn syrup and potato starch. Outside Korea (and the East Asian region), cornstarch is the primary choice for fried chicken coating – but whoever thought of using potato starch for this particular dish is a genius. You may add nuts, garlic or dried chili after depending on how you like it. Invite your friends over and have a merry time munching on your dakgangjeong.
*photo source: http://blog.naver.com/sin100/70163816189
