Karaage-Japanese Fried Chicken

JustJanS's Note:

This is very popular in Japan, and very popular with my children. It's also a favorite dish in the restaurant where I work. The Japanese are quite happy to eat this at room temperature too. Prep time includes marinating time.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 600 g boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger juice (I grate fresh ginger root, then squeeze between my finger tips to extract the juice)
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• vegetable oil (for deep frying)

Directions:

1. Using a fork, prick holes all over the fillets, then cut into 5cm pieces.
2. Mix soy, sake and ginger juice and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.
3. Pat the chicken dry with paper towel and then toss in the corn starch.
4. Heat the oil to 165-170C degrees and fry slowly and well.

Reviews

[LuvMyBabies]

oh man this is delicious. this is going straight to my favorites folder. i sub. mirin for sake since that's all i had...threw cornstarch INTO the marinating chicken just right before frying and did add 1 clove of garlic (grated). marinated it for 7-8 hours and delicioius. i also ended up using 1 pound of thinly sliced chicken breasts since that's all i had in the freezer and cut it up into bite size pieces. also seasoned it w/ salt and pepper right after coming out of the deep fryer. whole family loved it. thanks sooo much for sharing such a wonderful recipe! truly one of my fav recipes that i found on this site.

[Tania Graves]

I made my friend chicken karage and she found this recipe on line and asked me if this is how I made it. Basically its the same. But I add two cloves of garlic grated (tastes really good) and salt and pepper to taste. I also use potato starch instead of corn starch. I also mix the potato starch in with the marinating chicken right before frying. That's how my Japanese mother taught me to make it.

[tara portee]

I am always trying chicken prepared different ways and I must give this high marks for being light, crisp, and having a nice subtle taste that was different than plain fried chicken. Because I have a very short time to prepare dinner once I get home from work, I went ahead and put whole chicken breasts in the marinade in the morning. I did not deep fry and I am sure this took away from how authentic it was but pan frying turned out a nice result. Out of curiosity I looked at other Karage recipes, it looked like most of them called for a thick batter. Maybe I'll try it that way one of these days.