Karaage is a really popular dish for everybody from young kids to adults in Japan. This was my favourite dish when I was small and I loved to find karaage in my school lunch box. It looks like normal fried chicken but it’s not – the flavor is very unique. The chicken is marinated in soy sauce, garlic and ginger before deep frying it. This marinade is simple to make and the reward is much bigger than the effort, I would say!

 

Ingredients

(To serve 2 to 3 persons)

• 8 to 10 oz chicken

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon cooking sake

• 2 tablespoons mirin

• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger grated

• 2 cloves garlic

• ½ cup potato starch

• Vegetable or olive oil for deep frying

• One plastic bag or a container to marinate the chicken

Directions

1. Cut chicken thigh into 1.5-inch pieces and place it in the plastic bag.

2. Add all the other ingredients into the bag and mix well then leave in the fridge for one hour. You can leave longer (even overnight) but the longer you leave, the harder the meat will get.

3. Bring the oil to 320 to 340F (160 to 170C). If you are not sure if the oil is ready for deep-frying, dip dry hashi (chopstick) into the oil. If you see small bubbles (so it looks like the oil is deep frying the hashi) around hashi, it means the oil is ready.

4. Place potato starch in a bowl. Take out each piece of chicken and roll it in potato starch.

5. Gently drop each piece of chicken into the hot oil. To make crispy karaage, you need to maintain the oil temperature so try not to cook too many pieces of chicken at the same time in order to prevent the temperature going down.

6. Once the karaage becomes a golden colour, the chicken is cooked so take it out and place it on kitchen paper or a wire rack to drain any excess oil.

7. As when you are cooking tempura, use a skimmer to pick up crumbs in the oil to keep it clean. This will help make a nice golden colour crispy karaage.

If you want to learn more about cooking Japanese food, don’t forget to check out my regular cooking classes! Website: andys-workshop.com/cookery.html Facebook: facebook.com/cooking.with.nao Tel: 098-955-5311 Address: 862-1 Namihira, Yomitan village, Okinawa 904-0322 Class times: Let’s Roll! – Sushi and Home Cooking: both classes take 2.5 hours Class starts: 10:00 and 13:30. Closed on Sundays, Bookings and inquiries: 10:00 to 20:00

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