Chicken karaage

Chicken karaage

Classic, crispy Japanese-style fried chicken. 

Prep time: 10 min :: Cook time: 20 min :: Total time: 30 min

Yield: 10 to 12 pieces

Serving size: 3-4 pieces as part of a Japanese meal or in a bento

Ingredients:

• 10 oz (300g) boneless chicken thighs
• 1 piece fresh ginger, (about the size of your thumb)
• 3 Tbs. soy sauce
• 1 Tbs. sake (see substitution notes below)
• about 1/2 cup Potato starch (katakuriko) or cornstarch, (enough to coat the chicken. Potato starch is better, but cornstarch will do)
• peanut oil or other vegetable oil, (for deep frying)
• a few drops sesame oil, (optional; add to the frying oil for extra flavor)

Directions:

Cut up the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. You can take off the skin if you like, though it does make the chicken crispier.

Peel and grate the piece of ginger. 

Put the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add the grated ginger, soy sauce and sake, and mix well. Let marinate for a minimum of 10 minutes. Around 30 minutes is ideal. If marinating for more than an hour (say, overnight), use 1 tablespoon soy sauce, then add the other 2 tablespoons just before you're ready to cook them; this prevents the salt in the soy sauce from drawing out too much moisture from the chicken.

Heat the oil; if using a temperature-controlled fryer or a thermometer, aim for 180°C / 355°F. If not, a test with a single piece of chicken or a small piece of skin. Toss enough potato or cornstarch into the marinated chicken (drain off a bit of the marinade if it's too watery first) so that each piece is completely coated. Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time until a deep golden brown.

Drain well - a wire rack is best for this, but paper towels work too.

Serve with lemon wedges. Some people like to add a sprinkling of grated yuzu peel and/or sansho pepper.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

__Potato starch__, or katakuriko, is standard for karaage in Japan. It creates a wonderfully light, crispy, greaseless surface. It's not that easy to get a hold of in many places though (look in a Japanese grocery store), so __cornstarch__ (cornflour in the UK) is an acceptable substitute.

If you cannot use sake, substitute one of the following (they are listed in order of preference): sherry, mirin, Chinese xiaoxing (shaoxing) wine (the label should say 紹興酒). If you can't use alcohol at all, add a pinch of sugar for the slight sweet flavor, and leave it at that. Vinegar is __not__ a good substitute for sake even if some websites and cookbooks say it is. Sake does not taste anything like vinegar.

For an explanation of why sake and ginger are used in the marinade - besides for flavor - see this article.

Source Justhungry By Makiko Itoh