San Tung Dry Fried Chicken Recipe ?

Homemade Dry Fried Chicken! 

Hands down, my favorite chicken dish of any restaurant I've been to... the infamous San Tung dry fried chicken... my friends and I go at least once a month.... usually on a whim after a long day from clinic... we all gather and are like hm.. where should we go? ... since most of the top rated Yelp places have disappointed us, we tend to go to the familiar... and good... which ..... so far.. only happens to be San Tung. We trek to the other side of town.... pray that there isn't that long of a wait... and savor this dish in all its great glory....

What's so special about this chicken dish? It's perfectly deep fried with just the right amount of spice, sweet, sticky, and semi savory sauce, and well.. just that combo makes it so incredible... I don't even think about the meat.. it's more about the texture of the fry, and thick sticky sauce.... so.. it came time for me to try to make this at home since it's still technically my week to cook asian foods...this was an ambitious recipe since I don't deep fry. but for this one I have an exception... the recipe was wonderful.. I tweaked it a bit and still have a bit more work to make it even closer to San Tung's.

This recipe is as elusive as many top rated foods are.... I found a few websites, and the recipes seemed like it would be close, my problem is, I don't ever recall seeing ginger or garlic in my sauce... but on looking at pictures of this dish on yelp.. I can see the garlic.. Guess my hunger really makes me a blind eater!...  and the sauce is not too heavy on the ginger. I think it's a great contrast though. One flavor that sticks out is the addition of white ground pepper. I love white ground pepper in Asian cooking, but I've unfortunately have only a few shakes left in my bottle :( .. Next time I will experiment a little more with the white pepper, and update if it makes a difference. FYI: I love spicy foods. The spicier the better... just a warning... :)

Finger licking delicious! 

Dry fried = twice fried? I haven't had the energy to figure out what it means by dry fried, but frying this twice made it so amazing.

Dry Fried Chicken
Adapted from : http://blog.melonoat.com/2010/12/chicken-wings/
http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2009/09/korean-fried-chicken-wings.html

Wings:
8 chicken wings, defrosted if frozen, pat dry with a paper towel
salt ( enough to lightly sprinkle over the dried wings )
white pepper ( light sprinkle over chicken wings)
1/3 cup mochiko - sweet glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp corn starch
oil for frying

Sauce:
1-1/4 cup water
5-10 thin slices of ginger ( I've never seen ginger pieces in San Tung.. but I guess there is a slight flavor .. maybe I'm not looking hard enough at the sauce)
1 clove garlic finely minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes ( or more if you want it spicy!)
1 tbsp corn syrup
1.5 tbsp honey


Wings:
1. heat oil in a pan until 350 degrees, I like to use the unofficial wooden chopstick test since I don't have a thermometer, place in the wooden chopstick and when it starts to bubble around the chopsticks... ( steady bubbles) ... it's ready! ( I know this is not an accurate way to do this, so please use a thermometer if you have one)
2. in a shallow dish, mix the flours together, sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken, and lightly coat the wings
3. drop in the wings into the hot oil, and cook for 5 minutes , remove chicken from pan, and dab on a paper towel, let cool for a few minutes.... in the mean time, start making the sauce ( once the sauce is simmering.... )
4. Place the wings back into the hot oil, and fry for another 5 minutes. Remove and drain excess oil on a paper towel, and place on a rack if the sauce is not done yet...

Sauce:
1. Mix everything except for the corn syrup and honey in a small sauce pan, place over medium heat,  stir frequently, when it starts to boil add in corn syrup and honey, taste it to see if it's to your liking, I like things a little bit more savory than sweet, this recipe is quite sweet. Add more soy sauce if it's too sweet, or even water.... let simmer until it reduces to half ( sauce will be thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon. ).. add a little water if you over reduce, the sauce should not be as thick as honey, and should be easily poured like syrup.

Mix it up:
1. mix the sauce and chicken in a large bowl or just pour it on top, I love my wings coated completely... so I coated it and poured the remaining over the top.