Crispy Chicken Scrunchers with Gochujang Dipping Sauce

Breadcrumbed strips of chicken, served with warm spicy rich Gochujang dipping sauce

Chicken Scrunchers with Gochujang Dipping Sauce

A family favourite, deservedly so. Easy to do either in a frying pan or in the air fryer if you have one. I have recently acquired one and I love it for the substitution of deep frying with healthier lighter air frying. You can whip this up for an easy kids’ lunch in 20 minutes.

I have written previously about my son’s fondness for Korean spicy flavours and his Mother’s Day gift of a tub of gochujang paste. We’ve used the spicy salty paste a lot and it’s still in the fridge and going strong. A little goes a long way. You can tone down the spices as suits your own family’s taste but this combination of sweet, salt and spice is a winner. I think we based the sauce recipe on Joshua Weissman’s (joshuaweissman.com) sauce for wings, but you can use it on any crunchy finger-type food.

Serve with a platter of vegetable batons alongside the chicken for extra dipping and you have a great healthy meal.

Serves 4 for a light meal                                 Timings:               30 minutes

• 3 skinless chicken breasts, cut into finger sized pieces using scissors
  
• 1 egg, beaten
• Breadcrumbs to coat

Gochujang sauce:

• Sesame oil and vegetable oil – a teaspoon of each
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated or cut small
  
• 70ml soy sauce – you can use a mixture of dark and light or just an all-purpose soy as you have
  
• 75ml rice vinegar
  
• 25ml rice cooking wine or Japanese mirin
  
• 50g granulated sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon gochujang paste
  
• 2 tablespoons cornflour

 
Vegetables for dipping:  red or yellow pepper, carrots, celery etc. Whatever’s fresh and to your taste.
 
Dip the chicken strips into the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumbs to coat and leave them on a baking tray in the fridge to set the coating.

In a small saucepan, warm the oils together and briefly fry half the garlic and all the ginger until sizzling, but don’t brown them. Add in the soy, vinegar, rice wine, sugar and gochujang paste. Stir and simmer to blend. In a cup, mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons water, then dip up a spoonful of the simmering sauce, mix into the cup, then tip the whole cupful back into the saucepan. Stir and bring to a simmer as it thickens. Let it cool a bit but keep warm.

Fry the chicken pieces either in a frying pan with a small amount of oil or in the air fryer until cooked through and the coating is browned and crisp.

Prepare the vegetable batons.

Serve the chicken, vegetables, and the sauce together and allow everyone to dip to their heart’s content.