Recipe: Korean Fried Chicken Nuggets (양념닭)

I received a box of Kikkoman Kara-Áge Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix courtesy of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program to review. I didn't sign up for it the first time around because I couldn't think of a Korean way to use this classic Japanese cooking technique. By the time the chance came around again, I knew I wanted to experiment with the Kara-Áge coating and find out if it could be a recipe-less way to make basic Korean fried chicken.

The box contains two mix pouches, each able to easily coat 1¹/₂ pounds of chicken or fish. Two pouches, so here are two versions.

The first version I simply made "straight up" with diced chicken thighs, following the directions on the packet without addition, elaboration or substitution. The coating was light and crisp. When fried according to the directions, the chicken bites weren't greasy.

"This is what chicken nuggets should taste like," Hubby said, referring to the crisp yet not lumpy crust.

The second version, I made with diced chicken breasts. To spice them up Korean fried chicken–style, I added spicy curry powder to the coating mix and a light layer of Korean hot sauce just before serving with a small bowl of fried rice.

-Korean Fried Chicken Nuggets (양념닭 Yangnyeomdak)

Chicken ingredients

1 pouch Kikkoman Kara-Áge Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix
1¹/₂ pound chicken, either breast or thigh meat
1 tablespoon Korean curry powder

Instructions

1. Pour coating mix into a one-gallon plastic locking bag
2. Dice 1¹/₂ pounds chicken breast into 1¹/₂-inch, bite-sized pieces.
3. Rinse chicken pieces with water and allow most of the water to drain away from the chicken. 
4. Put the chicken into the bag and shake the chicken in the mix until the chicken pieces are completely coated. 
5. Add sunflower oil into a large cast-iron skillet until there's 1/4 inch of oil in the skillet. Heat it up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit over medium heat.
6. Put in one handful of chicken pieces at a time to the heated oil. (The coating mix box says add a dozen pieces at a time. Every handful ended up being about a dozen pieces without tedious counting.)
7. Set timer for four minutes (for diced chicken thigh) or three minutes (for diced chicken breast). Turn over the chicken chunks frequently in the hot oil until they are golden brown. 
8. Put the cooked chicken pieces onto a towel-draped towel to drain, and repeat steps 6-8 until all the chicken is cooked. Set aside. 
9. Discard the unused coating mix in the bag. I found that there was very little coating mix left, so I didn't feel wasteful to throw the unused coating away.

Sauce (양념 Yangnyeom) ingredients

2 tablespoons chives, finely minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 tablespoons 고추장 gochujang (spicy Korean red pepper paste)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon garlic
¹/₂ tablespoon 고추가루 gochugaru (spicy Korean red pepper powder) or Hungarian hot paprika
¹/₂ tablespoon sesame oil

Directions

1. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds to one minute to dissolve the sugar.
2. Brush a light coating of sauce on the chicken pieces. You don't want to marinate the chicken in the sauce, else they won't be as crisp.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a box of Kikkoman® Kara-Áge Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix to test out and review. I received no other compensation for this post.

Hidden kimchi: Java Hub, San Anselmo, Calif.

Many assume the territory between San Francisco and Sonoma County wine country an hour's drive north is bereft of Korean cuisine. I did, too, until I discovered a venue for such fare long-disguised as a coffee shop.

Java Hub Cafe is Marin County's only noted venue for Korean victuals. It's a simple coffee shop in San Anselmo, Calif., a suburb of San Rafael located about 10 minutes north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. And it is well off the beaten tourism path of Highway 101, the Marin-Sonoma thoroughfare.

On entering the little cafe, I noticed the subtle sounds of acoustic modern folk and alternative music playing subtly from speakers. The large counter has a big posted menu from which to order.

Indoor seating is on barstools with a long table facing a large window. That's nice natural lighting for food photography, but it offers an unimpressive view of the regular stream of traffic.

Outside there are more than half-dozen tables. It would be nice to enjoy coffee and a meal alfresco in the summertime. However, it's now winter in California. Even though our winter days are mild compared to Korea's, I still didn't want to eat outside.

Tucked behind the coffee shop edifice is a restaurant serving all sorts of North Asian cuisine, including 갈비 kalbi, 비빔면 bibimmyun and miso udon.

After waffling between ordering bibimmyun or bibimbap, I initially ordered the spicy bibim noodles (called bibimmyun in Korean, $7.25 USD). But owner Joyce Jung immediately advised me it would take about 20 minutes to make it. I asked if the bibimbap ($6.50 USD) would arrive more quickly, and she said "yes." So I opted for the popular Korean dish.

The bibimbap arrived in a regular ceramic bowl — not the oven-heated stone bowls of dolsot bibimbap — with steamed white rice, raw shredded carrot, sauteed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, a sunny-side-up fried egg and a couple of tablespoons of 고추장 gochujang.

After thoroughly mixing items together with the supplied fork. The raw carrots and lack of marination of the ingredients made the Java Hub version not as sweet and garlicy as the dish often is in traditional Korean restaurants.

Non-Korean vegetables such as broccoli may surprise some, but as a big fan of broccoli I enjoyed it very much.

Jung told me Java Hub has been open at this location for 10 years. Originally she only served coffee, tea and typical coffee shop fare like bagels and sandwiches. However, she soon found she needed to offer something more to keep the doors open.

"I noticed that business dropped off in the winter, and I started offering hot meal options to draw winter business," she said.

So she began offering familiar Korean and Japanese dishes to her menu as well as other hot items like hamburgers.

The mix of coffee joint and Korean restaurant may seem eclectic. Yet while I was talking to Jung after my meal, one of her customers, waiting for his "usual order" of a bacon cheeseburger, opined, "Her burgers are the best anywhere."

If 빨리 빨리 bbali bbali ("Hurry, hurry!") is your battlecry and you just want a quick coffee to go, you can place your order from the drive-through window. Jung makes the coffee herself and will bring your order to your car.

Java Hub Cafe
60 Greenfield Ave.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415) 451-4928

A wonderful birthday present: Yonhap published my latest article today

Yes, I admit it. I have a birthday once a year on January 11. Yonhap News inadvertently helped me celebrate my birthday by posting my latest article for them today.

Here I am with Korean Consul General Lee Jeong-Gwan (r) and his wife Park Jong-Ran (l). Tammy Quackenbush photo

In early October, San Francisco’s Korean Consul General, Lee Jeong-gwan, hosted nearly 100 food writers, chefs, grocery buyers and caterers to a luncheon at the St. Francis Yacht Club to encourage Northern California culinary experts to add Korean dishes to their menus and Korean ingredients to their dishes.

I followed up with two of the three major Korean food wholesalers to find out how participating in the Culinary Camp helped them increase their business and the popularity of Korean cuisine and ingredients in Northern California.

As Eric Han, marketing assistant for CJ Foods told me a couple of months after the event, “The event’s overarching purpose aligned with ours — to spread the appreciation and awareness of Korean food, and we were able to achieve that, along with the added aim of increasing awareness for our own brand, among the targeted community of prominent Bay Area chefs and food industry players,” Han said.

To find out more, I want all of you to click over to S.Korean food companies set sights on overseas wholesale buyers

Starbucks pairs Korean cuisine with coffee

Koreans are just beginning to learn the art of pairing traditional foods, such as Korean barbecue, japchae and bibimbap with wine and now coffee. Starbucks Corp. wants those captivated by Korean cuisine to consider serving coffee alongside each course of a meal, rather than as a dessert complement, according to Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Starbucks hosted a two-day lecture in Seoul in December called "coffee college." It taught the fine points of tasting coffee and pairing it with traditional Asian foods.

Here were the highpoints in pairing Korean food and coffee:

1. Kenya iced coffee with Korean vegetable dishes. According to Jane Ashley, Starbucks' global coffee master, the Kenyan brew has a light acidity with bold currant and grapefruit flavors.
2. Jeju Black Pork marinaded in doenjang with Sulawesi Coffee Sauce and aged kimchi. It was paired with a hot shot of Sulawesi coffee.
3. Galbi steak drizzled with a special sauce made with 15-year-old vintage soy sauce was paired with a shot of Sumatra coffee.

How to store fruits, veggies artistically (w/o a fridge)

Many make New Year's resolutions, promising to improve themselves in the coming year. Pledges to quit smoking or lose weight are admirable, but I have a different set of New Year's resolutions.

One is to reduce the amount of food I waste. According to Enviromental Protection Agency, nearly 31 million tons of food waste went to landfills or incinerators in 2008. Repurposing it as compost is only part of the solution.

Dutch-Korean artist Jihyun Ryou rediscovered how our ancestors stored fresh fruits and vegetables in the days before refrigeration. One of her innovations is shrinking the old-fashioned root cellars to small, wall-mounted sizes. She calls it, "saving food from the refrigerator."



If you need some food-storage tips or have ideas to share with others, go to Share Your Knowledge. The U.S. Green Chamber of Commerce has 50 tips on repurposing leftovers into time-saving, nutritious dishes.