Chicken Karaage

What you need

Ingredients

Measured for 3 servings.

• 450 gBoneless skinless chicken thigh meat, raw weight
• 15 gGinger
• 5 gGarlic
• 30 mlSoy Sauce
• 15 mlDry White Wine
• 8 gGranulated sugar
• 41.7 gPotato starch
• 80 mlVegetable oil
• 60 gLemon

Make it

Method

1. 01

   Cut 450 g raw, boneless skinless chicken thigh into even bite-size pieces. Mix 15 g grated ginger, 5 g garlic, 30 ml soy sauce, 15 ml dry white wine and 8 g sugar. Coat the chicken and refrigerate for 20 minutes. This is a shorter local marinade than the original author's one-hour version and uses wine instead of sake; do not leave raw poultry at room temperature. Drain well and coat each piece in the measured 41.7 g potato starch, shaking off loose excess. Potato starch is not potato flour.

2. 02

   Pour the measured 80 ml vegetable oil into a small, sturdy deep-sided pan and heat to about 170–180°C; the oil depth depends on pan size, so this is small-batch shallow-frying rather than promising a one-inch deep-fry. Lower pieces in carefully in two or three batches, keeping the oil below the pan's halfway mark. Turn and cook about 5–7 minutes per batch until golden and the thickest piece reaches 74°C. Let the oil recover between batches; do not return cooked chicken to raw marinade.

3. 03

   Drain each batch on a rack and divide the cooked chicken evenly into three servings. Cut the measured 60 g lemon into wedges and squeeze to taste just before eating. The calculation counts the entire 80 ml oil and all 41.7 g starch as if consumed; actual oil absorption and excess coating vary, so the shown calories and fat are not a measured value for the drained finished dish. No rice or dip is included.