Tori no karaage is the famous Japanese fried chicken, flavorful and tasty, juicy inside and crispy outside. In Japan, they are obsessed and go crazy for this fried chicken, which is available everywhere in stores already cooked and is often made at home.
The base of tori no karaage is the chicken thigh and/or drumstick, which is first marinated in a sauce made of egg, soy sauce, sake, garlic, and ginger, then potato starch is added to create the batter, and finally, the chicken is fried and golden. A delight of unique taste and crunchiness, the best I’ve ever made.
In this simple recipe, I will teach you how to prepare the marinade, fry, and enjoy the Japanese fried chicken that you can serve hot with a lemon sauce or mayonnaise, but it will also be great for a cold dinner.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients
- 4 chicken drumsticks, with skin, raw (or 2 thighs + 2 drumsticks)
- 1 tbsp ml soy sauce
- 2 tbsp ml sake (or dry white wine)
- 1 tsp ml sesame oil (or sunflower oil)
- 1 egg (whole)
- 1 pinch sugar
- 0.8 inches fresh ginger root
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt and pepper
- 2.5 oz g potato starch
- to taste sunflower oil (for frying)
Steps
Without removing the skin (but feel free to remove it if you prefer), debone the chicken drumsticks, Do not throw away the chicken bones, set them aside to prepare the broth for any soup, or freeze them.
First, cut the drumstick in half and then cut 4-5 chicken nuggets from each piece, preferably all the same size. So that they will all fry in the same cooking time.
Put all the chicken pieces in a bowl and add the egg, soy sauce, sake or white wine, pinch of sugar, sesame oil or sunflower oil, minced garlic clove, freshly grated ginger root, add a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of ground pepper.
Mix all the ingredients well, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the chicken marinate for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. You can also prepare it the day before.
After the marinating time, remove the marinated chicken from the fridge and let it return to room temperature.
Add the potato starch to the bowl and mix everything so that the starch blends well with the marinade juices.
Prepare the pan with the oil for frying the chicken. When it’s hot enough, take 4-5 pieces of chicken at a time from the bowl and fry them for 5 minutes.
They will be golden and rise to the surface; the time is right to cook them, to form an extremely crispy coating and keep the chicken juicy inside. As they are ready, drain them on a sheet of paper towel. Serve them sprinkled with grated lemon zest.
