The Korean fried chicken variety topped with thinly shredded scallions is padak. The name combines pa, meaning scallion, with dak, meaning chicken, and the dish is also translated as “scallion chicken.”
Padak is made by frying chicken and finishing it with a generous mound of finely sliced green onions. Restaurants may serve the scallions plain, lightly dressed, or with a sweet-savory and spicy sauce. The contrast between crisp chicken, fresh scallion sharpness, and sauce is central to the dish.
It belongs to South Korea’s broad fried-chicken culture, which includes plain huraideu-chikin, soy-based ganjang-chikin, and spicy yangnyeom-chikin. A common mix-up is tongdak: tongdak refers to an older whole-chicken style, not the scallion topping. Korean fried chicken is also often paired with pickled radish and beer, a combination popularly known as chimaek.