Korean-style Corn Dogs

What makes a corn dog Korean?

Before we get into Korean Corn Dogs, let’s talk about the American Corn Dog- the OG.

The American Corn Dog usually consists of a hot dog on a stick that has been coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter and deep fried. On the other side of the world, the Korean style Corn Dog uses no corn at all actually. Its batter consists of all purpose flour, glutinous rice flour and yeast which gives it a unique texture. The Korean style Corn Dog’s batter has a more fluffy and slightly chewy texture when fried in comparison to the American Corn Dog’s cornmeal batter that is more dense. I guess I should start called Korean Corn Dogs something else since they don’t contain any corn but I digress.

The outside of the two corn dogs are also very different! Korean-style corn dogs are coated in Japanese panko breadcrumbs after being battered (before frying) while the American corn dogs are simply deep fried after being coated in the cornmeal batter. Sometimes, you’ll even see Korean style corn dogs coated in potatoes and ramen noodles! It’s actually very tasty and gives the meat on a stick some bulk.

Typically, an American Corn Dog only uses hot dogs/sausages but you’ll often find Korean-style corn dogs made with cheese, fish cakes, rice cakes and sausages. My personal favorite is half cheese and half sausage. I’m a sucker for a good cheese pull.

To enjoy an American Corn Dog, one would use the traditional ketchup and mustard however the Korean style Corn Dog gets topped with sugar- yes, you read that right… sugar. It may sound a bit strange but if you love sweet and salty flavor combos, you will absolutely love it! Of course, sauces are also served including your traditional ketchup and mustard but I’ve also had it with sweet Thai chili sauce, gochujang based sauce and Japanese mayo. All are delicious!

Let’s talk sweet…and salty:

Do you like it? Do you hate it?

I personally love sweet and salty flavor combinations. Growing up, I would only use honey mustard on my American Corn Dogs because I much preferred a more balanced bite. I also would add honey into my cornmeal batter so that the slightly sweet batter would compliment the salty hot dog. The first time I had a Korean corn dog dipped in sugar, I was skeptical but amazed! I honestly did not expect to like it so much which is weird thinking back on it since I already preferred the use of honey in my corn dogs. The sugar also adds a nice crunch to the corn dog. I’m a texture fiend so if you’re like me, you may like it too! I’ve also seen cinnamon sugar used instead of plain white sugar which makes the corn dog taste a bit like a churro! Don’t knock it until you try it.

Recipe:

What you will need:

Batter:

The other stuffs:

Instructions:

1. Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for 5-6 minutes until it becomes slightly foamy. 

2. Once the yeast has been activated, add in the all purpose flour, glutinous rice flour and sugar. Mix well. Leave out for one hour. After one hour, the batter should be well risen. It should have tripled in size so make sure you use a large enough bowl!

If you don’t have glutinous rice flour, you can replace it with all purpose flour! The addition of the glutinous rice flour gives it a slight chewy texture but it’ll taste good without it as well 🙂

3. To prepare your skewers, skewer mozzarella cheese and hot dogs. I like to have half cheese and half hot dog but you can do as you please!

4. After one hour, the batter should have tripled in size. Carefully, dip the prepared skewers into the batter using a rotating motion to allow the batter to wrap around the skewer. This batter has some strength! I think I’ve broken four skewers during this process. Definitely be patient and carefully wrap the batter around the cheese/hotdog. You want to cover the entire surface area to make sure the cheese does not ooze out once it goes into the deepfryer.

5. For a potato dog, coat in your choice of potatoes (dusted with some flour). I diced the potatoes into small chunks so that they cook faster. You don’t want to be biting into raw potatoes. I used sweet potatoes but you can use any starchy vegetable really. I imagine this would be tasty with taro or yuca. After you have attached some potatoes to the batter. Coat the corn dog with panko breadcrumbs ensuring that there are no wet batter areas. For a normal Korean corn dog, only coat in panko breadcrumbs.

6. Over medium low heat, deep fry the corn dog until it becomes golden brown. This takes about 7-8 minutes. If you notice your panko bread crumbs burning then I would remove the corn dog and lower the oil. Once the oil has cooled slightly, return the corn dog to finish cooking.

7. Once you’ve taken the corn dog out of the hot oil, sprinkle on white sugar. The heat and oil will glue the sugar to the corn dog. You can also drizzle on your choice of sauce!

8. Enjoy!

Korean-style Corn Dogs

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Ingredients

  

Batter

• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 ¾ cup flour
• ¼ cup glutinous rice flour
• ½ tsp salt

Others

• Hot dogs
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Skewers
• Japanese Bread Crumbs Panko
• Sugar
• Diced sweet potatoes or regular potatoes
• Your choice of sauce. I used OFood Gochujang Sweet Chili Sauce. It’s a sweet and spicy sauce that pairs really well with the corn dog!

Instructions

 

• Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for 5-6 minutes until it becomes slightly foamy.
  
• Add in the all purpose flour, glutinous rice flour and salt. Mix well. Leave out for one hour.
  
• To prepare your skewers, skewer mozzarella cheese and hot dogs.
  
• Dip the prepared skewers into the batter using a rotating motion to allow the batter to wrap around the skewer.
  
• For potato dog, coat in potatoes (dusted with some flour) and then panko breadcrumbs to coat the remaining batter. For normal corn dogs, coat in panko breadcrumbs.
  
• Deep fry over medium low heat until golden brown.
  
• Sprinkle on some sugar and your choice of sauce.
  
• Enjoy!