Karaage is a type of cooking technique for deep-fried ingredients such as meat, fish, or vegetables covered with potato starch or a combination of flour and potato starch in oil. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a chicken but generally speaking, when people say “Karaage” in Japan, it is imagined as fried chicken. Japanese fried chicken (Karaage) is usually round in shape and seasoned mostly with soy sauce mainly. If you are looking for a typical karaage recipe you can find it here.
It is one of the most popular classic Japanese dishes, especially among younger ages, but people love it on any day and age. You often see this in a lunch box in Japan. There are different varieties of Japanese fried chicken nowadays, each family might have a unique recipe for Karaage. You can enjoy arranging and seasoning it with your taste.
The title might get your attention if you are a curious person, but I must let you know. This karaage tastes not that twisted, it tastes just as great as normal classic karaage. And you are like “Why is this recipe for people with curiosity then?” because I don’t use the main basic condiments for marinated sauce but chicken stock and yuzu kosho (yuzu citrus chili paste). Yuzu kosho is chili paste so it is supposed to be hot and it is hot when you eat itself but this karaage doesn’t taste hot actually. If you enjoy Japanese fried chicken, I am sure you will love this recipe as well.
Japanese fried chicken (Karaage) for people with curiosity
Karaage is one type of Japanese fried chicken, which is a classic Japanese main dish. It is good to eat even if it's cold, of course, great when freshly cooked as well. It can be a party menu because it is filling and everyone loves it. You can arrange condiments to add to it. In this recipe, you need 9 ingredients below, boneless chicken thigh, sake, chicken stock, yuzu kosho(yuzu citrus chili paste), ginger, garlic, potato starch, flour, and black pepper. I don’t use soy sauce but chicken stock, but if it's hard to get it, you can use soy sauce instead. Yuzu kosho is a condiment paste made from chili peppers, yuzu citrus peel, and salt. I am a big fan of yuzu kosho, it can add some fruity flavor and strong saltiness in a good way. If it is unfamiliar with your area, you can skip it as well.
Ingredients
Optional Ingredients (garnish)
Instructions
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Preparation
Get all the ingredients and condiments.
-This photo doesn't include the Yuzu kosho -
Cut the chicken thigh into a bite
First, cut the boneless chicken thigh into a bit bigger bite size.
-You may get rid of unwanted fat from chicken thighs. -
Season the chicken thigh and rest it
Put the chicken into a bowl, add all the seasoning, and mix them well. package it with plastic wrap and rest it for 15 minutes.
-Plastic wrap helps soak up, also preventing unwanted drying. -
Combine the flour and potato starch and coat the chicken
Add flour first and mix well, then add potato starch and mix again.
-Flour makes chicken juicy and potato starch makes its texture crispy. -
Deep fry
Pour the vegetable oil into a pan until about 3 cm from the bottom and heat to 170 degrees Celsius. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time. In 2 to 3 minutes, they color golden brown then it is time to flip them off, and 2 to 3 minutes more. When getting look nicely colored, take them out from the pan.
-When is ready to fry? Check with chopsticks. Put a chopstick into the oil, if you see small bubbles around on its surface, that is ready to go.
