Easy Karaage Chicken 🍗

(Originally posed May 5 2020 - I've move this recipe from my old site here so everything can be in one place )

Who doesn't love fried chicken?

(Scroll down to the bottom of the page for full recipe)

Hey curious cooks! Today I'm going to share with you my easy karaage recipe. It's super easy and quick, so if you ever have a craving for Japanese fried chicken you can make it at home and eat it with a bowl of rice 😃

Every time I go out to a Japanese restaurant, I always order the karaage chicken. Its usually a hit or miss but when its done well, its delicious!! Hot, crispy, juicy and flavourful 🤤makes me salivate just thinking about it! So the ingredients you need are; chicken thigh, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, cornstarch or potato starch and oil for frying!

First, chop up the chicken thighs to the desires size. Im cutting my pieces up into 3-4cm, I find that it cooks faster and stays nice and moist once its cooked.

Next, put the chicken in a container or bowl, add the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin and sake and give it a good mix around. Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinade for 30 - 60mins or leave it there until you are ready to cook it 🤗 I marinated mine after I finished work and waited until Jackson came home from work to start cooking them, that way he can have them fresh out the pot! 😉

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oil so it reaches temperature before you start frying. I don't have a thermometer so I did the asian thing and used a wooden chopstick to check if the oil is hot enough. Stick the chopstick in the oil and if you see little bubbles around the chopsticks, then you are ready to fry! 🥢

While the oil is heating up, take the chicken pieces out of the marinade and coat them in the cornstarch. I like to have a little system set up so it makes the process a bit neater and I used chopsticks because I didn't want to get my hands dirty 😝

Once the chicken is coated, carefully put them into the oil and cook until it is golden brown. Again, just like coating the chicken in cornstarch, I like to have a set so I can rotate the chicken in and out of the oil and make as minimal mess as possible 😋

And you're done! easy as that! Serve with a bowl of rice with Japanese mayo or just eat on its own! I ran out of Japanese mayo so I just served it with rice and kimchi! 🍚🥢

Try this recipe out and let me know what you think! Is there anything else I could do or add to make this better?

Happy cooking everyone! See you in the next recipe! 🤗

Karaage Chicken

Serves 4 - 6 people

Ingredients:

- 1kg chicken thigh chopped into desired pieces

- 2 tbs mince ginger

- 2 cloves mince garlic

- 1/3 cups soy sauce

- 1 tbs mirin

- 1 tbs cooking sake

- 1 to 2 cups or enough cornstarch or potato starch to coat chicken

- oil for frying

Method:

1. Add the chicken, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin and cooking sake into a bowl and mix well.

2. Cover the bowl and let it marinade for 30mins or until you are ready to cook (the longer you marinate the better it taste 😉)

3. Start heating the oil until it 180 degrees C.

4. Put the cornstarch in a shallow bowl.

5. Take the chicken pieces out and coat it with the cornstarch, then set it on a tray or plate. Repeat this for all the chicken

6. Once the oil reaches temperature, add the chicken into the oil in batches and fry until golden brown.

7. Serve with rice or eat on its own 😁✌️