Twice fried Korean inspired Maple glazed chicken and cauliflower

Posted by petra08 on March 13, 2015 · 27 Comments 

As I was walking down the high street today I couldn’t resist buying a cauliflower. They had so many and they looked so delicious. I didn’t have a plan I just walked in a bought one straight away. If I didn’t want to eat it today I could always eat it tomorrow. I had some vague idea of making cauliflower steaks with chicken. It turned out that I got completely side tracked.

I had some chicken thighs that I defrosted, I decided this morning to eat my way through the freezer. Chicken and cauliflower is a great combination and then I saw a recipe for crispy Korean chicken. I didn’t have enough chicken for a full meal but with the cauliflower it would be perfect. I found the recipe here and was almost drooling as I was watching it, especially that last bite when you can actually hear the crunch. I pushed all other thoughts aside and knew I had to make this. I used to visit a Korean restaurant and this dish was my lunchtime favourite but it never occurred to me to make it myself. I have never had a recipe but then I found this.

I have never cooked Korean food before. I have a well stocked spice cabinet but there are some gaps and it became apparent when I set out to cook this dish, I ended up replacing so many ingredients please see my version below. I had some runny honey, agave nectar and Maple syrup to use and decided to use the Maple syrup, it has a delicious flavour on it’s own and it added a great depth of flavour to the glaze.

 

Twice fried Korean inspired crispy chicken and cauliflower with Maple glaze

preparation time 15 minutes 

cooking time 25-30 minutes in total

serves 3

Ingredients

• 300 gr or 10 1/2 oz chicken thighs or 500 gr or 17 1/5 oz chicken wings
• 1 small cauliflower
• 2 dl or 1 cup corn or potato starch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice
• 1 piece of peeled, crushed and chopped ginger
• 2 tbsp buttermilk
• grapeseed oil for frying

For the glaze

• 1 dl or 1/2 cup Maple syrup
• 1 heaped tbsp brown sugar
• 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic
• crushed and chopped fresh ginger
• 2 dried chillies
• 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• water if necessary

Garnish

• 1/2 dl cashew nuts
• a good handful of chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Trim the chicken and cut the cauliflower in to florets. I used the inner leaves as well and they turned out lovely and crispy. Place in a bowl and add the salt, the ginger and the Chinese five spice. I did my own mix and it it so delicious, this is the first time I used it and it added great flavour.

 

 

The cauliflower was slightly dry and I was worried that the corn starch wouldn’t stick so I added buttermilk.

 

 

I mixed everything and made sure the cauliflower and chicken were coated with both the buttermilk and the spices. Last I coated all of it in corn flour. I let that sit before I crushed and chopped the garlic and ginger and cut up the dried chillies, seeds removed.

 

Heat the oil and fry the chicken for 10 minutes per batch. Remove and fry the cauliflower for 6 minutes per batch. Set aside to drain.

 

 

Fried chicken 

 

Cauliflower 

 

When everything is deep fried deep fry the nuts for about 30 seconds and set aside to drain. Return everything to the oil and fry again until golden and even more crispy.

 

Whilst that is frying heat oil in a pan, pan fry the garlic, ginger and chilli.

 

 

Add the maple syrup, the soy sauce, mustard and rice wine vinegar, add the sugar last and let simmer down until it is a sticky glaze.

 

Let the chicken and cauliflower drain and add to the glaze with the nuts. Make sure everything is mixed and all pieces coated. Sprinkle generously with coriander and sesame seeds and serve.

 

 

We dived in and there was enough for three but we almost finished it off between us and decided that this recipe is a keeper. The chicken and cauliflower was crazy crispy on the outside and delicious on the inside. The glaze was full of flavour and I could taste them even afterwards. It is a recipe that turned out even better than I thought it would.

 

I am bringing a big plate to Angie’s Fiesta Friday, a great place to share all of your favourite dishes!

 

 

 

 

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Filed under Allotment/Veg, Cauliflower, Chicken, Chilli, Garlic, Ginger, Herbs, Main course, Meat, Recipe · Tagged with crispy Korean chicken, Korean chicken, maple glaze, Maple syrup, twice fried cauliflower, twice fried chicken