Karaage

Marinated thigh in potato starch, fried twice at two temperatures, with no batter at all.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

800 g boneless chicken thigh, skin on, in 4 cm pieces
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sake
1 tablespoon mirin
30 g ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, grated
1 teaspoon sesame oil
120 g potato starch
oil, for deep frying
1 lemon, in wedges

Method

POTATO STARCH AND NOTHING ELSE -- no flour, no egg, no batter. It fries to a thin, pale, brittle shell that shatters, where flour gives a thicker sandy crust. This is the first of the two things separating it from the tonkatsu on this site, which is crumbed in panko.
THE SECOND IS TWO FRIES AT TWO TEMPERATURES. 160C to cook the meat through, a rest, then 190C for forty-five seconds to crisp. Tonkatsu is one steady fry; this one cannot be done in a single pass without choosing between a raw middle and a dark shell.
THIGH, SKIN ON. Breast dries out in the second fry and the skin is most of the pleasure.
Marinate 30 minutes and no longer. The soy starts drawing water out of the meat after that and the pieces firm up.
Lift the pieces out and let them drip, but do not dry them -- the clinging marinade is what the starch sticks to.
Toss in the potato starch one piece at a time, pressing it on, then shake hard. A thick floury layer steams rather than fries.
Rest the coated pieces 5 minutes until the starch looks damp and has gone from white to translucent in patches. That is the sign it will hold.
FIRST FRY at 160C, 4 minutes, in small batches. They will be pale and that is correct. Out onto a rack for 4 minutes.
SECOND FRY at 190C, 45 to 60 seconds, until deep gold and audibly crisp.
Salt the moment they come out, and lemon at the table. Eat within ten minutes.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes