Korean Fried Chicken at the Comforts of our Home

If you recall not too long ago, I did share that I wanted to try this new McCormick product, and about a week after that, I had the four variants at home ready for me to use. I have always been a fan of McCormick; their Buffalo Wings mix was something my brother and I go for, so even if we haven't tried this, we already knew we would like it.


This fried chicken mix is easy to use - just empty out the packet #1 into a bowl and add 1/4 cup of water and mix. Don't add any more than 1/4 cup of water because it would be a little runny, but if you would like a thick batter, then add a little less than 1/4 cup of water.

A day before I tried using this, I learned how to properly do the "Double Deep Fry" technique - and since this is Korean Fried Chicken, might as well try it for this time, right?


Dip chicken in batter and fry for about 5 minutes until it is light brown in color, just like the picture above. Fried chicken has always been a tricky thing for me, so I just set the fire on low and covered the pot while cooking it - so the steam trapped inside will also help cook the chicken pieces. After 5 minutes, just set aside the chicken to rest.


Re-fry the chicken pieces until it is golden brown. Crispy fried chicken, I tell you!

The batter can be used for 1/2 kilo of chicken. If you want it to be crispier, I suggest you dust the chicken with a mix of cornstarch and rice flour before dipping it into the batter.

It is really best that you do two batches of chicken, so you can fry the second batch while the first batch of chicken is resting - no need to turn off the fire and re-heat the oil once the chicken has rested. 

Now that the chicken is cooked, on to Step Number 2 - coating the chicken with the sauce. The pack said, "Place the chicken in a container, pour the sauce and shake it to distribute the sauce," but since this is a new product and I am a little apprehensive that the family might not like it, I just served the sauce alongside the chicken.

The family has already tried three of the four flavors:


Soy Garlic. Honestly, I loved this more than BonChon Chicken. It's not overly sweet, and I do hope McCormick can come up with a bigger pack for the sauce because the glaze outside of the chicken just wasn't enough. :)


Kimchi. I admit I was a bit apprehensive about this at first because I am not a fan of kimchi, but a year ago, I got to taste Kimchi flavored popcorn and loved it, so this was the next flavor we tried. If I loved the Soy Garlic flavor, I loved this even more. It has this pucker-up taste - yes, a little tangy - but it has a kick of saltiness, too, making it an instant favorite. It just went well with the chicken!


Bulgogi. Another good flavor, but it is quite similar to the Soy Garlic one, so I wasn't so impressed with this.

The Spicy flavor I think is Soy Garlic, so we might try it next time. Of the three I tasted, it is very obvious that I loved the Kimchi one. It is also the cheapest one at just 36 pesos (Bulgogi was over 40 pesos), so I guess I'd stock up on that one.

I am loving how the food industry is evolving - back then, fried chicken simply meant marinading chicken pieces in calamansi juice mixed with soy sauce, then the breading mix came out (some with gravy mix, too), and now this. Gourmet eating at the comforts of our own home... with all the rice you can eat, too! :)

A Refreshing Break

Coffee Break
Jaro, Iloilo

Hello, foodies! Sun is up now, but Internet connection's not that good yet. It's been a while since I shared food trips from way back, so let me continue now, so I can catch up with the current time. :)

After I went pasalubong shopping at the Biscocho Haus, I told K to walk past the store because I needed some refreshments. It was already late in the afternoon, and even if he and I shared some granola bars while waiting for a funeral service at the Jaro Cathedral to finish, I wasn't able to have a drink. Walking from the Cathedral to the Biscocho Haus made me really thirsty.


Thankfully, there's a coffee shop nearby. Coffee Break is not something new to me as I have seen branches in the Metro Manila and brother has talked about it before. Even so, it would be my first time to taste what they have to offer, so I was sort of excited about it.


The place isn't that big, and that time it was just K and I at the store, but during our stay some people came by - all took out their orders.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. K wasn't much into eating snacks, so he only went for a bottle of Gatorade this one cookie. I didn't taste it as I don't eat raisins, but he said it was good.


Chocolate Mousse. I admit, I went there to have something cold to drink, but seeing how affordable their food are, I decided to try it, too. Chocolate Mousse is one of my favorite pastries - maybe because it has less "bread" and more "frosting." This one is so good - had the right balance of flavors, and since it's not that big (possibly 3x2 inches or a little bigger than that), it was just enough to satisfy a sweet tooth. For some it might be small... but this one's only p35, so one can order another one if it's not enough. :)


Irish Creme Frappe. I am not a coffee-holic, so I don't know how each flavors should taste like. I went for this one 'coz it sounded delicious, and it was.


Tiramisu. This K and I shared. This wasn't part of our original order... after tasting how good their Chocolate Mousse was, I went back to order another pastry. Again, it wasn't that big, but because I have had a lot of something creamy and sweet, I asked K to help me finish this. It was good, it had the hint of alcohol taste I look for in a tiramisu, and the crushed cookie at the top added more texture and flavor to the pastry.

It was a good way to refresh - as always, K and I continued sharing stories about anything and everything, and from here we went straight back to the Inn. I hoped for us to check out Nelly Garden - even just photograph it from the outside, but with a big box of pasalubong, we thought it would be best to just head straight to the Inn.

    

Buco Loco

Has it really been a week since I last posted here? Well, I had problems with Internet connection - signals break every now and then, and during night times it was really awful. Maybe it's the endless rain causing the breaks with the connection, but anyway, this weekend wasn't really that good as I hoped it would be, but we are all safe, so that is reason to be thankful.


This weekend, I was able to pass by a thrift shop where I got to buy 4 tops for only p15 each. Told myself I won't buy any clothes 'til I lose 20lbs., but p15 pesos a piece was so cheap, couldn't resist it. It was of good quality despite the price, one even had a tag still attached.

One thing I did a lot of last weekend though, was to watch "Criminal Minds" on DVD. It is one my favorite TV shows, and I started watching from the first season again, so my mind will be fresh when I start watching seasons 6 and 7, which I still haven't watched yet.

Last night, sister came home with this bottle of Buko Loco, a coconut drink that got her craving for it for many weeks already. This week, she has the early morning shift, so before coming home, she passed by SM Fairview to buy it.

I still haven't checked Buko Loco's kiosk, so I am not familiar with their drinks, but sister told me there's always a beeline of people. She went for this drink - with nata de coco inside - and I personally found it too milky, that it already lost that coconut flavor.

Of course, one sip isn't enough to conclude if I like it or not - so when I go to SM I will check it out and see if they have other flavors I might love.

Hope you all had a great weekend.