I had a huuuge craving for chicken karaage so I went out of my way to make it as close to authentic I could (without the sake).
Chicken thighs and potato starch are a must. The fattier thigh meat holds up better to frying than breast meat and is significantly more flavourful.
The potato starch makes the chicken crispier and adds a delicious flavour. Highly recommended for this recipe, and I personally wouldn’t make it without. You can also use corn starch or regular flour in a pinch but it wont have that crunch!
You can find potato starch at most asian groceries, or you can grab it online from amazon.
What you need:
- 2 large skinless, boneless, chicken thighs (or 4 small about 1 lb), chopped into 1″ cubes
- 1 tbsp garlic, finely minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, finely minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1/2-1 cup potato starch
- neutral oil for frying
- metal cooling rack over sheet pan
- Mix first 5 ingredients and allow to marinate for at least one hour.
- Heat a pot with a few inches of oil to 350º, or when a crumb or some flour dropped into the oil begins to sizzle immediately.
- Take your chicken and dredge it into the potato starch, shake off access and place into oil. Do not crowd the pan, depending on the size of your frying pot you may need to do this in batches.
- Fry for about 3 minutes or when chicken begins to turn lightly brown. Remove with slotted spoon and place on cooling rack, and continue cooking the rest.
- When the first fry is done, turn the heat up slightly (375º) and fry the chicken in batches a second time. You’re only looking for this to turn a deeper brown, probably about a minute or so per batch and it’s done. This will make for extra crispy chicken!
- Once chicken is out on the rack for the second time, lightly sprinkle with salt and serve!
I like serving this with a little wedge of lemon and some green onion sprinkled on top! Enjoy 🙂
