Karaage is japanese fried chicken and it’s a staple of japanese home cooked dishes.
But, to tell you the truth, it’s difficult to cook delicious karaage well (even for japanese homemakers..) . But rest assured !＾＾
I’ll introduce some important secrets to cook crispy and juicy karaage so easily. Anyone can cook delicious Karaage only if you keep these secrets.
And in this recipe, I don’t use any alcoholic beverages, for example Japanse sake(日本酒）, mirin(みりん） and so on. (In many karaage recipes, sake is often used.）
In japanese cooking, sake is used to remove the unpleasant smell of meat and improve the penetration of the taste. But nowadays, we can buy fresh chicken meat easily than the old times and by letting chicken rest in the refrigerator we can soak the meat with flavor and soften it.
Japanese sake(日本酒） gradually become popular year by year all over the world, but it still difficult to get because it’s expensive or not sold. In addition, some people are religiously unable to drink alcohol.
Some recipes recommend using beer or white wine instead of sake(日本酒）, but I don’t personally recommend it if you want to make delicious authentic Karaage(唐揚げ）, since it departs from the original taste of Karaage we japanese eats in japan.
So, by following this recipe, you can cook delicious Karaage with authentic flavor without using sake ( of course, you can use 1tbsp of sake if you have it).
I hope everyone enjoy delicious Karaage at home easily !
Ingredients
- 1lbs (450g) of chicken
- if you more value juiciness, I reccomend using chicken thighs (boneless skin-on). but I love both karaage that made of chicken breasts and chicken thighs.
- 1 piece of ginger
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3tbsp(about 50cc) of Shoyu (soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 3tbsp of potato starch
- oil
- canola oil, rice oil, grape seed oil and so on. I reccomend using the oils that won’t transfer a taste to what we make.)
The first secret is using sugar. This secret is for juiciness.
The second secret is using Katakuri-ko（片栗粉）（potato starch）. This secret is for crispiness.
Some Karaage recipe use flour but if you want to cook crispy Karaage, I stronglly reccomend using Katakuri-ko (potato starch).
The image above is when I made two types of Karaage using wheat flour and Katakuri-ko(potato starch) for comparison. You can see that the one using potato starch is fried more crispy and beautifully.（All the conditions, such as the type of meat and seasoning, are the same except whether the batter is made of potato starch or wheat flour.）
In Japan, when we use potato starch, we buy Katakuri-ko (片栗粉）. Today in Japan, the ingredients of Katakuri-ko (片栗粉）is potato starch. So, you can use either Katakuri-ko(片栗粉）or Potato starch.
I myself also cook Karaage many times using Bob’s Redmill potato starch that I bought at a nearby supermarket.
Katakuri-ko(片栗粉） is also easy to buy on Amazon.com and is not expensive, on the other hand I also like the fact that Bob’s potato starch comes in a lot and is a bargain.
In any case, potato starch is relatively easy to obtain and can be used for a wide range of purposes other than Japanese cuisine, so if you want to make crispy Karaage, please use it.
Direction
1. Making the sauce for marinade.
Grate garlic and ginger. I usually grate half a piece of ginger ( Though the amount of ginger is difficult for many to understand, I don’t grate whole piece of ginger. for details, please watch my youtube video.) .
Add 3tbsp of shoyu (soy sauce) and 1tbsp of sugar ( if you want to add 1tbsp of Sake(日本酒), please add this time).
If you don’t have any grater, you can chop or slice garlic and ginger, in that case it is better that you should let the chicken rest in refrigerater overnight to improve the penetration of the taste in STEP4.
2.Cut the chicken
Cut the chicken into one-bite sizes. you can use cooking sissors instead of the kitchen knife. Please use the one you like.
3.Marinade the chicken in the plastic bag
Add the chicken and the marinade sauce that we made in advance in STEP1. Knead well.
4.Let it rest in refrigerator.
Let it rest in refrigerator ( It is safe to wrap it in another bag to prevent liquid leakage.）If possible, let it rest in the fridge
overnight for better flavor and
deliciousness.
By letting it rest overnight
(approximately 6 hours or more),
the sugar will penetrate the meat and
the meat will be more juicy.
If you don’t have time, 30 minutes is fine.
When you use chicken breast meat that is easy to dry, it’s better letting it rest overnight.
5.Add the potato starch into the bag
and knead well.
Add 3tbsp of potato starch into the bag and knead well.
It is just right that the batter is
not powdery. This makes it possible
to fry beautifully.
6.Fry the chiken in oil
In taverns and restaurants,karaage is fried in plenty of oil.
However, in ordinary households, it is difficult to store and dispose of used oil .
So, I always use a method called AGE-YAKI
(AGE means frying and YAKI means baking).
This is a method of frying while turning over with a small amount of oil.
I’ll show you the details ( My youtube recipe video also shows how I fry Karaage using the AGE-YAKI method, so I hope you can refer to that as well.)
The depth of the oil is about 1cm
(a little less than half an inch).
The temperature of the oil is around
360 ℉ (180℃).
If you drop a small amount of batter into a pot and a small bubble constantly pops up around the batter, it’s a sign of 360℉.
In AGE-YAKI method, the secret to making it delicious is to fry the meat while turning it over and over again.
If you put too much in the pan at once, the temperature of the oil will drop, so fry it in appropriate amounts.
When the chicken turns golden brown,
it’s a sign of completion.
Fry the rest of the meat in several batches in the same way.
If you can’t eat all at once, you can store the batterd meat in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Please cook when you want to eat at a later date. You can eat freshly fried karaage.
Thank you for reading through !
I also posted the recipe movie on my YouTube channel.
If you have any question, please feel free to leave comments(^○^).
I hope everyone enjoy crispy, juicy and authentic Japanese Karaage at home easily !
