"KFC" at Home

While KFC has secret spices, Korean fried chicken has a remarkable crispy coating and sweet and spicy sauce. The double-frying technique is key to creating fried chicken that has an audible crunch as you bite into it.

Bon Chon in Annandale has fried chicken with either a sweet and mild sauce, or a fiery hot sauce. You can also order a mix. http://www.bonchon.com/ If you run into the same problem we have, you'll discover they are so popular the phone is constantly busy when calling to place a take-out order, or they run out of wings on weekends.

We decided to take matters into our own hands and followed a recipe we found on Saveur.com http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Korean-Fried-Chicken with higher amounts of garlic and ginger. The sauce was delicious, although next time we'll add ground Korean red pepper for a spicier sauce.

Vine-ripened tomatoes with mixed greens and a ginger-lime salad dressing.
Fresh cucumber kimchee from Super H in Fairfax.

Freshly made kimchee from Super H. Cut that morning, it was crunchy and much nicer than kimchee that has fermented longer.

Green bean and shishito pepper tempura.

Tempura batter is simple to make: 1 egg yolk, 1 cup ice water, 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup corn starch

Baby bok choy with a soy sauce, chili pepper, sesame oil sauce.

For the chicken: mix the flour, cornstarch and water. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat. Begin the first frying stage. Fry the chicken 6-8 minutes. Remove from oil and drain.

A helpful Japanese frying tip is spreading newspaper on the floor around the stove, this greatly helped our cleanup later.

Fry the chicken in 350F oil until crisp and brown in the second frying stage for 6-8 minutes.

Spicy sauce mixture of kochujang, honey, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and rice vinegar.

Toss the hot chicken pieces in the sauce after the second round of frying.

Delicious.