Japanese Holiday Cooking - から揚げ
Karaage から揚げ Japanese Fried Chicken
As we have been unable to cook in Japanese this term, I thought it might be fun to do some holiday cooking at home. Below is a delicious chicken recipe that is one of the greatest fried chickens in the world! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Karaage or Japanese fried chicken, is a classic dish you can find at any Japanese home, bento lunch box, street-side stalls or restaurant.
With tender and juicy marinated chicken coated in a crispy shell, Karaage is a staple in Japanese home-cooked meals.
Ingredients
- 700g boneless skin on chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons potato starch/corn starch
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose plain flour
Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 clove minced garlic
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon rice wine (optional)
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Garnish (optional)
Lemon
Japanese mayonnaise
Method
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Cut each chicken thigh into 2-inch pieces and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- In a large bowl, combine the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice wine (optional) and sesame oil and whisk together.
- Add the chicken to the bowl and mix. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Prepare the potato/cornstarch and all purpose flour in separate bowls.
- Pour the oil into a heavy based frypan/sauce pan and heat the oil on medium heat.
- To coat chicken, firstly coat each chicken piece in the plain flour and dust off any excess. Then coat the chicken in the potato/corn starch and remove excess.
- When the oil has reached temperature, gently submerge each chicken piece into the oil. Do not overcrowd the pan.
- First Deep Frying: Deep fry for 90 seconds or until the outside of the chicken is a light golden colour. Transfer to a wire rack to drain excess oil. Continue with remaining chicken. Pick up the crumbs in the oil with a fine mesh sieve to keep the oil clean.
- Second Deep Frying: Bring the oil back up to medium heat and submerge chicken in batches. Deep fry until the skin is a nice crispy golden colour and the chicken is cooked through. Drain on wire rack to remove excess oil.
To Serve
Serve the chicken hot. Karaage is often served with a wedge of lemon and Japanese mayo.
I would love to see your cooking creations. Please share them with me at kassie.miller@cg.catholic.edu.au and I will post some photos next term of your home cooking experience.
いただきます！
Itadakimasu! Enjoy
Kassie Miller
Japanese Teacher
Source – Just One Cookbook