If you absolutely love Korean or Japanese street food and are craving a fake-away without the takeaway guilt, try these crispy partridge bao buns! Made with absolutely delicious and healthy partridge breasts, each mouthful is delicious. Perfect for a night in and the kind of sharing food where each person can build their own bao bun to their liking!
Equipment: You can use a food processor to make the sticky Korean sauce. You'll need a steamer to steam the bao buns with.
Ingredients:
Partridge marinade:
- 6 partridge breasts cut to bit size pieces
- 150ml of buttermilk
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
Crispy Coating:
- 180g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- vegetable oil for deep frying - 1 litre
Korean Sauce:
- 2 tbsp gochujang paste
- 2 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
To serve:
- Store bought bao buns - or use this recipe to make your own
- 4 roughly chopped spring onions
- A bunch of roughly chopped coriander
- 1 wee gem lettuce cut lengthways roughly
- 1 thinly sliced red chilli
- Sesame seeds
Method:
Place the partridge breast pieces in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, salt, pepper and salt. Mix together, cover and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour.
Chop all the ingredients that you are going to serve with the bao buns. Put aside.
Preheat the oven to 65 degrees (to keep cooked partridge warm). Heat a large pan of vegetable oil until hot.
Mix together the crispy coating ingredients in a small bowl. Take the partridge out of the fridge. Lift a piece from the buttermilk and allow the excess to drip off. Dredge the partridge pieces in the crispy coating mixture – ensuring it’s fully covered.
Once the oil is hot enough, add in 5-10 partridge pieces. You can add more or less depending on the size of your pan, be sure not to overcrowd the partridge. Cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown and cooked in the middle. Place on a plate in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the rest of the partridge.
Once all the partridge is cooked and warming, make the sauce. Place the gochujang, honey, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, water and sesame oil in a food processor and mix. Pour out the sauce and place in pot. If you don't have a food processor, just place all the ingredients straight into the pot, make sure that the garlic and ginger are super finely chopped. Bring the sauce to boil on the hob, then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes until thickened.
Follow instructions for steaming bao buns
Carefully open the steamed bao buns and stuff with the Korean crispy partridge. Top with spring onion, pieces of lettuce, fresh chillies, coriander and sesame seeds before serving.
