Korean Chicken Bao Recipes

KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN BAO

Steps:

• Chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.
• Place the chicken in a container or bowl. Add the marinade ingredients, cover and place in the fridge to marinade for 1 hour or overnight.

KOREAN CHICKEN BAO

Steps:

• Start by making the bao buns.
• Place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix together.
• Add the milk, warm water and butter to a jug and stir together until the butter melts. Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture at first with a spoon, and then with your hands. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can do this in a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover (with clingfilm or a damp tea toweand leave to prove until doubled in size - about 90 minutes - 2 hours).
• Meanwhile, start on the Korean Chicken. Place the chicken in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Mix together, cover and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour.
• After the dough has proved, tip it out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Knead the dough again and split into 20 balls. Place a piece of baking parchment on your work surface and roll each ball into an oval on top of the parchment, using a rolling pin - approx. 6cm x 9cm.
• Brush the ovals with the olive oil and fold each oval over, using a chopstick in the middle to fold over to leave a little space in the fold (so the oil is on the inside of the fold). Remove the chopstick and place each bun onto a small piece of baking parchment.
• Place the buns on the trays - still on the the baking parchment - as this will help you to move them later. Cover each tray with clingfilm or a carrier bag (ensuring the clingfilm doesn't touch the dough - or it will stick) and leave to prove for a further hour, until puffed up.
• Preheat the oven to a low heat (to keep cooked chicken warm). Heat a large pan of vegetable oil (or preheat your deep fat fryer) until hot (you can test by dropping a small cube of bread in there, if it rises immediately to the top and starts to bubble rapidly, it's hot enough). You'll need at least 1 litre (4 cups) of oil.
• Mix together the crispy coating ingredients in a small bowl. Take the chicken out of the fridge. Lift a piece from the buttermilk and allow the excess to drip off. Dredge the chicken in the crispy coating mixture - ensuring it's fully covered. Place on a tray and repeat until all of the chicken is coated.
• Once the oil is hot enough, add in 10-12 of the chicken pieces. You can add more or less depending on the size of your pan, just be sure not to overcrowd the chicken. Cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown and cooked in the middle. You can check this by cutting open a piece of chicken, if it's no longer pink in the middle, it's cooked.
• Place on a tray in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the rest of the chicken.
• Meanwhile, put a large steamer pan on to boil. Working in batches, place the buns in the steamer (you can keep them on the baking parchment and steam for 10 minutes. I use a double layer steam pan - placing four buns in each layer. Once steamed, place on a warm plate.
• While the chicken and bao buns are cooking, make the sauce. Place the gochujang, honey, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, vegetable oil and sesame oil in a saucepan and stir together.
• Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.
• Place all of the cooked chicken in a bowl and pour the sauce over the chicken. Toss together to coat. You can leave the chicken chunks whole, or slice up if you prefer.
• Carefully open the steamed bao buns and stuff with the Korean chicken. Top with slices of red onion, cucumber, fresh coriander (cilantro) and sesame seeds before serving.