After my 2019 December Japan trip, I been craving Karaage. Amazingly, one of the best Karaage that I had in Japan was in a 7-Eleven.
It was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. So I decided to make my own at home.
From Japan, we brought back a fryer pot, so it was a perfect opportunity to give it a try.
The first time making it was indoors. although there were no smoke, we still had a little bit of oil splash. even with the side lid. So this time, I decided to cook outdoors.
I based my recipe on the following.
Just One Cookbook
and also from the NY Times Cooking
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019428-karaage-japanese-fried-chicken
My revised recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1.5 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, with its juice
- 2 teaspoons grated or smashed garlic (from about 3 cloves)
- 2 tablespoons dry sake or rice wine
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
- 4 skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds), deboned, cut into
- 2-inch chunks Peanut oil, or a mixture of peanut and canola or safflower, for frying (I used grapeseed oil for low smoke point
For Batter:
- 1 cup potato starch (katakuriko)
- salt
- black pepper
- white pepper
For Dipping Sauce
- Sriracha + Japanese Mayo (Kewpie)
For plate dress
- Lemon wedge, for serving
- Lettuce and cucumber slices, for serving
Directions
- Remove bone from Chicken thigh and slight cut to nuggets
- Mix dry batter together
- Bring frying oil up to between 329F – 338F (165 C – 170 C) … control and maintain that temperature
- Batter nuggets and fry
- Make sure internal temp for the nugget is at least 165F or 74C before serving
- Dress nuggets with additional white pepper and serve
- Dip in sauce and Enjoy!!!
I thought the result was pretty successful… and easy…. it is super juicy and better than any that I had in restaurants !!!
I believe the key of success here are the following:
- Keep the skin and fat on
- Maintaining temperature is critical
- White Pepper makes a huge difference
So give it a shot! and also take a look at my video.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEZpsg_KtXc https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019428-karaage-japanese-fried-chicken