Dakgangjung is a very popular traditional Korean dish and is usually made with chunks of chicken from a whole chicken. I’m using chicken wings in this recipe, but you could use chunks.
Each piece of chicken wing is coated with sweet and crispy sauce. Of the ingredients, thinly sliced ginger will turn into something like candy which has not only its own special chewy taste but also influences the whole flavor of chicken. Peanuts turn it into an amazingly crispy snack!
I also posted an easier version of dakgangjeong where you don’t need to mix a batter or slice ginger. It’s just as delicious as this one, so check it out!
Ingredients
40 pieces of chicken wings, salt, flour, starch powder, eggs, ground pepper, vegetable oil, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, corn syrup (mulyeot), vinegar, peanuts, sesame seeds, dried and crushed red hot chili pepper.
Directions
- Prepare 40 chicken wings or chunks of chicken, rinse them off in cold water and drain them.
- Transfer the chicken into a big bowl.
- Add 2 ts of salt, 1 ts of ground pepper, 2 eggs, and the mixture of ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of starch powder. Mix it by hand.
- Deep fry the chicken wings in vegetable oil 2 times at about 350-380 degrees (F).
Make sauce:
- Prepare a big wok or pan.
- Place 1 cup of water in the wok and heat it up.
- Slice 1 cup of ginger thinly after peeling the skin off and washing, and add it into the boiling water.
- Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 1 cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup of vinegar and boil it over medium heat.
- 5 minutes after, add 1 cup of corn syrup and keep boiling over low medium heat about 30 minutes.
- Raise a spoon of the sizzling sauce above the wok in the air and drop it until the sauce begins stopping halfway. Then turn off the stove.
Mix it up:
- Reheat the sauce.
- Add the deep fried chicken, 1 cup of peanuts (or any kind of nuts), ½ tbs dried red hot chili pepper, and ½ cup of toasted sesame seeds into the sizzling sauce and mix it with a spatula. The amount of sticky sauce will decrease while you are stirring. Then turn off the heat and you are done!
Tip: Before the chicken cools down, you may have to separate each piece of chicken wings to prevent them from sticking to each other.
For spicy food lover:
You can sprinkle 2 tbs of dried and crushed red chili pepper instead of ½ tbs.
For vegetarians:
Just make the sauce following the recipe above, and then add whatever dried ingredients you like and make candy! You can use sliced ginger, nuts (almond, walnuts, pine nuts, and peanuts), or sesame seeds.
- Place plastic wrap on your cuttingboard
- After mixing all the dried ingredients with the sticky sauce, spread it on the plastic wrapper on your cuttingboard. Wait a few minutes for it to harden.
- Cut it into bite size pieces and enjoy!
Posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 8:57 am.
Last updated on October 17, 2016.
Tagged: candied chicken, chicken recipe, crunchy chicken, dakgangjeong, dakgangjung, dakkangjeong, 강정, 닭강정, fried chicken, gangjeong, gangjung, korean chicken dish, korean food, Korean recipes, sweet crispy chicken, sweet crispy chicken dish
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Dear Hendrian,
Using a spoon to peel ginger is not a new trick. My grand mother and mother used it. I also used to peel it that way long time ago. Thank you for giving me chance to talk about it. : ) Nice!
hi maangchi,
I saw how you peeled the ginger. Try this trick I learnt while working in the kitchen: instead of using a knife, use a tablespoon to peel. Just put the tip of the spoon onto the ginger and peel! Hope that helps.
Regards
Hendrian
maangchi, do you have duck recipe? I’m duck lover and always hunt many duck dish with many style.. can u give me one? Thanks
erasmusa,
I am very glad to hear that you are learning about Korean food from my recipes. Now you can judge Korean dish that you are served at a korean resturant. “hmm, this soon du bu should be more thicker than this, only 1 shrimp?” or “oh, this cook must forget about using sesame oil!” etc… lol
hi maangchi! i’v been watching your vodcasts for months now. although i still haven’t cooked any korean food, i’ve learned about it and appreciate what goes into the food i eat in korean restaurants. all the best to you and your work! :)
Agasuka,
Yes, you have to stir fry hot pepper flakes longer with some vegetable oil.
I will give you this method which I don’t like beause it is time consuming. We call it gochu kierum.
In a small heated pot, pour 5 TBS of vegetable oil first and 3-4 TBS of hot pepper flakes and stir it for short time. Then put some of this into Soondubu jjigae.
I simplified by stir frying the hot pepper flakes with other ingredients and vegetable oil in the same pot.
Your pictures will encorage some people to attempt trying to make some dishes without worrying.
Thanks,
Hi Maangchi,
I saw your the column of “Bloggers who made my recipes”
Other than what you posted, I also made the following:
1. Bean Sprouts Side dish http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=143
2. Jap Chae
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=110
3. Yuk Gae Jang
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=90
4. Jeon
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=78
5. Bulgogi Stew
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=69
6. Deon Jang Chigae
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=54
7. Kim Bap
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=43
By the way,
sorry to inform you that my Soon du bu was a failure. I encountered the same problem as one of your youtube viewers. The hot pepper flakes floated in the soup and ruined the dish. I guess I should have stir fired it longer before pouring in the liquid.
Rebecca,
It looks very good! You changed the recipe a little to fit your taste, which is wonderful.
I posted the picture of your delicious looking boneless dak kang jung dish under “Bloggers who made my recipes”.
Hi…
This dish was so easy to follow! I guess I am a little strange when it comes to meat, I do no like bones. So I made the meal using skinless/boneless chicken breast, cut into bite size. I also added the crushed red pepper to the sauce. I included a picture for you. Thank you so much! I look forward to all of your other meals!
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums
/gg242/Mrs_T05/dakkangjung.jpg
James,
Wow, it looks perfect!
I know I wrote this as a video comment on youtube but I couldn’t tell if it posted without a hitch. Here it is again:
>>
Maangchi, I made this earlier tonight. There’s a picture on my website if you want to see how it turned out. I love it! I could see why this is a popular potluck dish. Thanks for sharing this with us.
http://yakap.org/2008/03/dak-kang-jung.html
>>
anne.h,
sure, you must be good at cooking.
Update me when you make other dishes.
Dear Maangchi,
I found your website last week. I love your videos! I made bibimbap for my fiance and it was delicious. I hope I can make this one and all the others someday. Keep it up!
Hi, lillian,
I was expecting your comment. : )
Oh, your mom sounds like she has allergy in wheat.
Yes, you can use all starch powder(either potato or corn) instead of mixing it with wheat flour.
Thank you so much for sharing great recipes and cooking. Please keep up with the good work.
Many thanks!
Maangchi these look transcendentally delicious! I can easily imagine they’re the first thing to go at potlucks. My mom can’t eat wheat–can I use all starch powder instead of mixing it with wheat flour? Also, what kind of starch powder is it? Thanks!