Vegetable Fries being drained
So…..there’s something that I have never figured out. Why don’t most Korean restaurants have Yache(Vegetable) Twigim(Fry) on their menu? It tastes soooo good and is pretty easy to make. But for some reason you rarely find it on any restaurant menu. Go figure.. Anyway, my husband really loves these fries and because we could never order it at restaurants, I started making it at home. It’s also my personal favorite and I missed it terribly when I first came to the US because it’s one of the things that my college buddies and I used to have all the time when we were at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. The Original Boonshik(오리지날 분식- I would put a link up but they don’t have any website) restaurant in front of Ewha(이대앞) has been serving Yache Twigim and Ddukbokki for generations. In fact, I remember my sisters taking me to this place on special occasions (it was really a hole-in-the-wall kind of place at that time) and I remember thinking how lucky my sisters were that they could eat this whenever they wanted to.. 
You may wonder if these fries are similar to the Japanese style tempura. They are somewhat similar but they are also quite different. The Korean style batter is not as extra crispy as the authentic Japanese style tempura, but it’s still crispy and more substantial than the tempura. Korean Twigim is also a lot more flavorful because there are different vegetables mixed in a single bite.
Ok, so here’s how you can make your own Vegetable Fries at home- Korean style. This recipe uses sweet potato but you can also use regular potato instead.
Difficulty: Moderate Prep Time: 25 min. Cooking Time: 25 min Servings: 4-5
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion (sliced)
- 3 medium size Korean sweet potato(Gogooma 고구마) or 3 C french fry-sized strips
- 2-3 carrots ( or 2 C french fry-sized strips)
- 2 bunches of green onion (or 1 1/2 C cut)
- 6 C of vegetable or canola oil for deep frying
For the batter:
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- 2 C frying batter mix (튀김가루 Twigim Gahroo)
- 2 1/2 C cold water
** Substitution for Twigim Gahroo **
If you can’t get Twigim Gahroo, you can use the following ingredients and it will turn out just as good.
2 1/2 C flour + 1/2 C cornstarch + 1 beaten egg + 2 1/2 C cold water + 1 tsp salt
sweet potatoes and carrots
onions
cut sweet potatoes (3 Cups)
cut carrots (2 Cups)
1.Prepare the vegetables: Peel the sweet potatoes and carrots. Cut them into french-fry sized sticks (McDonald fries size will do). The potato and carrot sticks should be cut roughly the same thickness because you want them to both cook evenly. Clean and cut both green onions and onions so that they are roughly similar in size to the potato and carrots. Onions cook quicker so they can be a little thicker. Add all the vegetables into a large bowl.
cut green onions
add sweet potatoes, carrots, green onions and onions into a bowl
2.Heat up the oil: Heat about 6 cups of vegetable or canola oil for deep frying on medium high heat. You can use a deep fryer, a wok or even a regular saute pan (3 1/2 qt or larger). Just make sure the pan or pot is deep enough to hold the oil and not have it overflow when it bubbles up (at least 2 1/2 inches or more between top of oil and top edge of your pan).
3.Mix the batter and vegetables: Add 2 C of Twigim Gahroo(튀김가루) and 1 C of flour to the bowl of vegetables. Below is a picture of the Twigim Gahroo I used - Ottogi brand. I’ve also used Baeksul brand which is also good. Just try to find a Korean frying batter mix that says NO MSG. If you can’t buy Twigim Gahroo, use my substitution recipe.
Mix all the dry ingredients with the cut up vegetables in the bowl. Make sure all the vegetables are well coated with the dry mix. Now add the wet ingredients and mix the contents well until there are no more lumps. It’s best to use your hands to mix so prepare to get your hand dirty! You can also wear plastic gloves if you’d like.
Make sure you use cold water – this makes it crispy. If you want to make it extra crispy (tempura style) then you can add ice into the batter and use a bit less water. The consistency of the batter should be similar to a creamy soup. When you pick up the vegetables to put in the fryer, take from the bottom of the bowl so that they are fully coated with the batter. For example, in the picture below, if you were to just take the top batch, it would not have enough of the batter and it will not taste as good.
Vegetables coated with flour mix
Vegetables in batter
4. Fry them! By now, your oil should be hot enough. The oil temperature should be around 280° F or 140° C. You can also test the temperature of the oil by dropping a piece of a vegetable. It should rise and bubble up almost immediately. When the oil is ready, pick up a bunch of vegetables (try to have a good mix of different veggies) with the batter and put them in oil. Usually about 4 -5 bunches works well. Putting any more may lower the temperature too much. But not putting in enough bunches may end up burning the fries too quickly without the vegetables being fully cooked.
Vegetables frying in oil
So by looking at the picture above, I can tell you, there are 4 bunches in the oil. The bunch at bottom left is almost ready to be taken out, the top right one is the least cooked and will need to cook some more. I haven’t measured the exact time but I would say it probably takes about 3-4 min for each bunch to cook. Just watch for the color to become light golden brown and the texture to get crispy and hard.
Vegetable Fry (Yache Twikim) pieces
Line a plate or a colander with paper towel and let the cooked pieces drain for few minutes. Serve them hot with a simple soy sauce and vinegar ( 1 T soy sauce + 1 tsp vinegar) or go fancy and add chopped green onions, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds and sugar to the soy vinegar sauce.
Yache Twikim (Korean Vegetable Fries)
What goes well with Yache Twikim?
- My favorite is to serve with Gochoojang Hobak Jjigae (Korean red pepper paste stew with Zucchini) because it really helps to balance any heaviness of the vegetable fries.
- Kimchi is a must or any other pickled vegetables
- Also tastes great with other Boonshik(분식) type dishes such as Ddukbokki, Udon, and Bibim Gooksoo.
Can I use the same batter to cook seafood or other veggies?
Yes, you can use this same batter recipe to fry calamari/squid -yum-…..another favorite of mine. You can also fry other vegetables such as Kkatnip, Ssukat, Fresh Shitake mushrooms, Bell peppers, Zucchini…
How to store and reheat?
Store leftover twigim in the fridge up to several days. My favorite way of reheating leftover fried foods is to reheat them in the oven (325-350 F) – this way, it gets crispy and also lot of the fat drips away. Microwave is the worst way to reheat it. Cut it into flatter pieces and pan fry them if you don’t have time to heat the oven.
Well, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
This is one of my favorites, too!! I think restaurants don’t sell these because they can’t charge a lot for something that’s supposed to be street food.
I made this last night – for my husband and my brother – I was making a few other dishes, so I delegated the frying to my little brother, who did an excellent job. He used ice cubes, since we both like crunchy things – and it was absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! My husband couldn’t stop eating it, saying it was better than tempura and restaurant food. Also, it the twigim stayed crispy even 30-45 minutes after we cooked it! YUM! It will definitely become a staple in my household menu. (BTW – I used the Ottogi brand).
One question – do you discard of the oil down the sink drain??
Chef Portes! It makes me so happy to hear that you made the twigim and loved it!! Just made my day! Any leftover twigim can stay outside for a day or so in cool weather. You can also put in the fridge and then reheat it in the oven (300 to 325 deg) until it starts to sizzle. You can also re-fry it in oil which makes it even crunchier! But also a hassle… don’t heat it in the microwave since it will just get all mushy. As for discarding the oil…some cities allow the veg oil to be recycled which is the best way. Otherwise, you can cool it and put it in a milk carton or some other container and dispose it in the trash. Prob. not a good idea to put it down the drain..
had this the other day, the ice really makes a difference! the best homemade twigim i’ve ever had!
Hi Matthew! So good to hear that it turned out well. I know twigim is a bit of extra work but I like the fact that you get to control the kind of oil used when you fry it at home. You just don’t know what quality oil restaurants use and also how many times they reuse it. They say, reusing the frying oil will produce unhealthy substances and can even be carcinogenic! Another reason why I love cooking at home.. thanks for visiting!
Hi there..
Thank you sooo much for sharing this recipe. LOVED It!!!! They’re so yummy. They don’t serve this in Korean Restaurants in Sydney Australia either.
Thanks again
OH, I’m so excited to hear that it turned out good for you!! Thanks so much for sharing it with me.
Thank you. A friends mother made these when we were kids and I absolutely loved them ( which pleased her immensely. ) I haven’t been able to find them since childhood but dreamed about them regularly. Finding your recipe was like finding the treasure after a very long expedition. I sincerely thank you.
Thank you so much for your note. Hearing from people like you makes it all worthwhile. Let me know if you have any questions!
No questions. They were perfect! Just as I remembered!
No problem! Glad you liked it!
Hi. When I was a kid my friend’s Mom would make these for us. I LOVED them. Over the many years I have often thought about sitting in her kitchen eating those Korean fries and would occasionally even dream about them. On a whim, I started a search and stumbled upon your recipe.
They were exactly the same as I remembered. Absolutely delicious! I made the recipe, dipped them in soy sauce, and was thrown back to childhood. It is absolutely silly to have an emotional reaction over Korean fries, but I did.
I thank you. Sincerely. Thank you.
I have been looking for this exact recipe for a long time…awesome! I will definately make this delicious Korean vegetable tempura asap! Mahalo for the wonderful recipe and fab pics! Aloha…..
You are very welcome! So glad you found my recipe. Enjoy!
hi there!
just a quick question. do you know the complete ingredients in the ottogi frying mix? found it in a korean groceries but i don’t understand korean, so it’s impossible for me to know the ingredients. and since i’m a muslim it’s important to know this. thanks in advance!
Sure – ottogi frying mix has the following ingredients: flour, corn starch, rice powder, baking powder, salt, roasted rice powder, garlic powder, black pepper, gardenia seed powder and vitamin B2. I have seen 2 different versions and one has gardenia seeds(치자) and one does not. But the rest is the same. You can also make your own version by just mixing equal amounts of flour, corn starch, and ice cold water. Add salt to taste. Hope this works for you! Thanks for stopping by.
Just wanted to say that you have a wonderful site here! I’ve been cooking Korean foods for quite a while now and I’m surprised I haven’t stumbled on your site before. You have such a wealth of knowledge and tips/tricks on Korean food that a lot of other sites lack. Thanks so much for doing this. Oh, and I tried this vegetable fries recipe and it turned out so super amazing!
Thank you so much for the wonderful comments! Comments like yours really make my day!! Glad it turned out amazing for you. I actually haven’t made any in a while..should do it soon..
Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!