Kara-Age - Japanese Style Fried Chicken

Chef floWer's Note:

I love Japanese food, I don't make this recipe to often as I try to stay away from deep frying. It comes from a book called 'Taste of Japan' by Masaki Ko.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 8 boneless chicken thighs
• oil , for deep frying
• ½ cup cornflour , for coating (you may need a more then 1/2 cup)

For the marinade

• 50 g fresh gingerroot
• 4 tablespoons sake or 4 tablespoons dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce

Garnish

• salad leaves

Directions:

1. Grate the ginger and squeeze it over a bowl to extract it's juices. Add the sake or wine and soya.
2. Cut the chicken thighs into four chunks and rub well with the marinade, then set aside in the marinade for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oil slowly for 165-170oC/330-340oF. Pat the chicken dry on paper towel. When the oil is hot, dust the chicken generously with cornflour and lower the pieces into the oil. To maintain the oil temperature, do not add too many chicken pieces at once. Deep fry the chicken pieces for 4-5 mins, until crisp, golden and cooked through.
4. Halve on chicken piece to make sure it is cooked inside. Drain the rest of the chicken, then serve hot or cold.
5. Garnished with salad leaves.

Reviews

[David43515]

I had never made karage with any ginger in it. It was a nice change of pace. A tip we use at the resturaunt is to soak the chicken in water for about 10 minutes and then pat dry before marinating. This allows the marinade to soak deeper into the meat and gives more flavor.

[Mirj]

Fantastic flavor! I used chicken breasts which had been pounded to within an inch of their lives and they really soaked up the marinade! I grate the ginger by keeping the root in the freezer at all times and then grating it while frozen on my Microplane zester. I used saki and tamari sauce. I don't like to deep fry so I just shallow-fried the chicken, and we loved it!

[Ilovemy4kids]

A resounding 5 stars for taste and ease in preparation. Anytime my 4 kids unanimously agree on a dish, it stays in my permanent recipe files. I used skinless breasts instead of thighs, cut them up into nugget sized pieces, and used chinese rice wine instead of sake. I added a little bit of sugar for extra flavor. Yummy! Thank you for posting.