Chef Jin Park opened his restaurant Tongdak — which means whole chicken in Korean, but is actually used to refer to “old-fashioned” chicken — just one month ago.

As you might have guessed, this chicken shop offers authentic Korean flavours based on recipes from the 1980s and 1990s.

The signature menu item is a whole chicken with a thin batter, unlike most Korean fried chicken spots. Park also serves western-style sandwiches with Korean sauces, which has already scored him some regular customers.

“I try to keep a Korean identity, but I also try to put a lot of Western style, like a mixture of the flavour into it. So, that way when there’s a new customer coming into my restaurant to try it for the first time, they’ll see a menu that doesn’t look very strange or too new, but also the flavor is something that they never tried in other fried chicken places,” Park says.

For today’s recipe, he’s sharing how you can attempt to recreate Tongdak’s fried chicken sandwich at home.

Want to make chef Park’s recipe? Watch his video below, download the PDF of his recipe, or scroll down for the step-by-step instructions.

Ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken thighs
• Brioche buns
• Shredded lettuce
• Pickles
• Banana peppers
• Cooking oil
• (Optional) Korean sweet and spicy sauce

To make the marinade:

• 1½ tsp salt
• 1½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp paprika powder

To make the garlic mayo sauce:

• 4 tbsp mayo
• 1 tbsp confit garlic paste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt to taste

To make the mix for coating the chicken

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rice flour
• Salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste

In a bowl, add 4 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 tbsp of confit garlic paste (which is basically garlic cloves, boil in oil at low heat for a long time and pureed), a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and garlic powder to taste. Mix well until smooth.

Store in a clean container that you can seal, so you can keep this in the refrigerator for a few days.

Step 3: Coat and fry your chicken thighs

In a large bowl, combine a cup of all-purpose flour, a cup of rice flour and salt and black pepper to taste and mix them well.

• Split your dry mix into two batches.
• Gradually add hot water to one of the batches and mix it until you reach a consistency that’s similar to pancake batter.

Put the marinated chicken thighs into the wet mix and coat it well, then put it in the dry mix and coat it well.

Deep fry the chicken thighs at 350°F for about 7 minutes or until fully cooked. The cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of the chicken.

Optional: If you’d like to make your sandwich spicy, once cooked and cooled a little bit, add the chicken thighs into a bowl and coat them with a Korean sweet and spicy sauce of your choice.

Step 4: Assemble your sandwich

Lightly toast the brioche buns in a pan, with no oil, then spread your garlic mayo sauce.

Add the chicken, shredded lettuce or coleslaw, banana peppers and pickles.

Cost breakdown

Grocery prices will vary from one store to the other, so the costs below are just an estimate.

• A pack of boneless chicken thighs – $15
• A bag of all-purpose flour – $5.5
• A bar of rice flour – $4.5
• A pack of brioche buns – $5
• A head of lettuce – $4
• A jar of pickles – $4
• A jar of banana peppers – $4
• A small bottle of cooking oil, 100ml – $4
• Mayonnaise – $6.5
• A small tub of  garlic paste – $6
• One lemon – $1.25
• Garlic powder – $7
• Salt – $2
• Paprika spice jar – $7
• Black pepper spice bottle – $7
• (Optional) Korean sweet and spicy sauce – $5

About the chef

Chef Jin Park started working in restaurants 10 years ago. Even though working in kitchens is stressful, he enjoyed cooking, so he followed his food passion and joined George Brown’s Culinary School.

He’s learned about the food business working at a restaurant franchise, and has recently opened his own spot, Tongdak on 50 Gerrard St. E.

“I figured out that Korean fried chicken is very popular these days, but the one that I’m making right now is very authentic, traditional,” he says.

He’s also acutely aware that people are struggling in this economy. “A lot of people try to find cheap food with a lot of good flavour, but also a big portion size,” he explains. That’s why Park tries to keep his prices affordable — Tongdak offers a whole chicken set for $30.

Tongdak has also made its menu halal to better serve its customer base.

“In order to serve more customers and give them more experiences to enjoy our food, I decided to go with halal chicken,” he says.

“For people out there who haven’t tried our food, come and try, and I guarantee you will like the flavour.”

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