Chicken karaage or Japanese fried chicken is a quick and delicious meal to prepare for your friends and family, a real crowd pleaser. Because the chicken is boneless and cut into small pieces, it cooks quickly and that means you spend less time standing over your stove.
The marinade for the chicken is flavorful and made with ingredients you’re likely to have in your pantry. Fresh ginger is the only item you might need to pick up at the market before you make this dish. Though I only made dinner for two, the marinade will season up to 10 chicken tenders. Just remember to turn the pieces now and then so each one soaks up the tasty sauce before frying.
Let the marinated chicken absorb the corn starch before frying.
Chicken Karaage
Serves 2
Ingredients
6 chicken tenders – each cut into 3 pieces
1 cup corn starch
canola oil for deep-frying
Marinade
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin (sweetened rice wine)
2 tablespoons Sherry (Amontillado if available)
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 medium garlic cloves – minced
1 teaspoon finely minced or grated ginger
Preparation
Combine soy sauce, mirin, sherry, garlic and ginger in a medium bowl large enough to hold the chicken pieces. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for about 1/2 hour, turning chicken pieces occasionally.
Place corn starch in a pie plate or medium bowl. Once the chicken is ready to fry, remove pieces from marinade and coat well in cornstarch. Transfer chicken to a plate and continue with the rest of the chicken.
Let the marinated chicken pieces absorb the corn starch until they turn a light brown color (see photo above). Now they are ready to cook.
In a wok or sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat – 355 degrees. Use just enough oil to cover the chicken for deep-frying.
Once the oil is hot, cook chicken in batches. Try not to over crowd the pan. This will cause the heat to drop and the chicken will become greasy if the oil is not hot enough. Turn chicken after 1 minute and continue to fry until cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes more. The chicken should be a deep brown color on both sides. Remove a piece of chicken from the pan to check for doneness.
Transfer cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with coarse salt. Continue to cook the rest of the chicken.
Place fried chicken on a serving plate with lemon slices or as I prefer, with Sriracha hot sauce on the side.