#agemono

Fried chicken is always good, isn't it? 

Karaage, when you analyze its kanji characters, is a fried dish ( 揚げ "age")... that has its origins somehow related to Chinese cuisine? That is some mystery created due to the 唐 kanji, the character for the "kara" part, the same as the Tang Dynasty's ideogram. There's no official answer for that question - perhaps some deep frying technique inspiration? 

As you can see, every karaage bite is a delightful juicy and crispy experience.

If you check other karaage recipes, you may notice that most of them are very similar, except for the marinade step. I’ve seen recipes using only shoyu, while others use shoyu, garlic, mirin, sake, ginger, pepper, sugar, salt, karashi... the list goes on. The marinade timing also varies, ranging from a simple dip in it to waiting it for half a day (which I personally don’t recommend to do).

My marinade uses only shoyu and grated ginger. Shoyu is standard for all recipes but I think ginger is quite important as well, as it gives a nice touch to the chicken without overpowering the natural flavors. I use a lot of shoyu so all meat gets covered in the marinate evenly. The marinate time is very short, just enough to season give a lightly salty taste.

Recipe

300g of chicken thighs, cut in bite size pieces

1.5 cup of shoyu

1 ginger, grated

Cooking oil

Cornstarch for coating

Deep frying measurements

Use double fry.

First fry oil temperature: 170℃ (356 F)

Cooking time for first fry: 120 seconds (no turning) .

Second fry oil temperature: 185℃ (356 F)

Cooking time for first fry: 30 seconds (no turning).

Steps

Combine shoyu and ginger in a bowl.

Add chicken pieces and leave it to marinate for 5 minutes.

After marinating it, remove and drain the excess off the chicken with a paper towel.

Dust the meat with cornstarch.

Double deep fry accordingly to the instructions above.

Serve the dish hot with lemon and mayonnaise.

Tips

The size of the chicken is subject to debate. Some restaurants leave it large while others like it smaller.

Don’t forget to drain the excess marinate from the meat before dusting it with cornstarch, otherwise you might end with an unpleasant salty crust.