ToriNoKaraAge 鳥の唐揚げ

Zangi fried chicken in Hokkaido Japan |Source

ToriNoKaraAge 鳥の唐揚げ

Why Tori No Karaage?

on the table, in the tavern of Japan, in the lunch box... Fried chicken is not exaggerated to say that it is a diet of Japan.
The fried chicken appears to be the main product in the convenience store of Japan as you can always see a warmer beside the cashier counter, which is stuffed with well-fried crispy juicy fried chicken, as well as other fried product, but still, the fried chicken is dominating in the market. You could easily find the fried chicken store scatter around from the town to the city, range from roadside food vendor to the specialty fry chicken store, staining the air with the crisp of deep fry flavour, luring you to hang around the store with its alluring frying sound, if they show you the frying procedure!

Zangi fried chicken

Half bird fry in Otaru, Hokkaido.

Source

Why it is so popular in Japan

Alright, why is the fried chicken is so popular until today while it is still growing its popularity? Well, fry chicken no doubt is the ideal dish suit for every occasion, such as eating out, home cooking, snack, side dishes, buffet, picnic, gathering, birthday party...... and so on so on you can tell and no one will say no to its charm no matter is fried chicken or fried fish or fried beef, I guess. On the other hand, talk about the Karaage, it is literally "Empty fry" meanings it is the frying method without any excessive of herbs and spice or some special batter, it is just flour and starch while modern day version of Karaage will come with marination, leading the original taste of chicken to the dining table, hence you could feel extra excitement about the sauce you make to serve with it. Lastly, it is the best dishes to choose if you are on tight budget or you just want to save some money because chicken is much cheaper than another type of meat especially the beef as the cost of breeding a nest of chicken is cheap.

The recipe

At here, this recipe will introduce the basic Japanese fry chicken "Tori no Karaage", crispy and juicy fry chicken is waiting for us. If you have a trip to Japan, no matter which prefecture, you must try their fried chicken, such as Zangi fried chicken from Hokkaido, Seki fried chicken in Gifu prefecture, Half Bird fried in Niigata City, or common Tatsuta-age.

Tori no Karaage

Japanese common fry chicken. | Source

Cook Time

Prep time: 8 min

Cook time: 12 min

Ready in: 20 min

Yields: for 2 people

Ingredients

• 250~300grams   Chicken boneless leg meat cut into bite size with skin on.
• 4 nos                  Shishitou Pepper, poke some hole with knife or fork.
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon      Soy Sauce, for marination
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon      Mirin, for marination
• as need Ground black     pepper, for marination
• 2 tablespoon                   Soft flour / Cake Flour
• half                                  Egg, beaten
• as need                           Corn starch, for coating
• half                                  Lemon, wedges

Lets fry!!! :)

1. Put the bite size cut chicken into a bowl and marinate 5 minutes with soy sauce, mirin, and ground black pepper, rub and massage the chicken well with the marination.
2. Remove the excessive juice off from the marinated chicken, add in the half beaten egg and 2 tablespoons of soft flour into the chicken, continue to rub them well.
3. Coat the marinated chicken with a layer of corn starch before fry.
4. Heat the oil up to 160°C, then fry the chicken in oil without any disturb at the first minute of frying, then stir them to fry for another two or three minutes, depend on the size of your chicken.
5. Remove the chicken from the hot oil and set them on the cooling rack, then increase the heat from 160°C to 180°C, you could see the bubbles are escaping vigorously from the wooden chopstick if you are using any.
6. Fry the chicken again after the oil reach the temperature for one minute(again, depend on your chicken size, and color), stirring them in the oil with a sieve or spatula.
7. Remove the chicken from the hot oil and leave them on the cooling rack, then fry the pepper in the same oil until they are slightly blistered, then leave them on the cooling rack.
8. Plate the chicken and pepper as your desired way, serve with lemon wedges or sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Or you can enjoy it with your special sauce or dressing such as mayonnaise or ketchup.

Ingredients for your reference

Marinate the chicken

remove the moist, mix well the chicken with the egg and flour, then coat with a layer of corn starch.

fry the chicken in the hot oil for 2~3 minutes with 160°C.

Remove the chicken from the oil, then raise the temperature of the oil to 180°C, and fry the chicken for the second time about one minute.

Remove the chicken from the hot oil when they reach the satisfied color, leave them on the cool rack, then fry the peppers until they are slightly blistered.

Leave the fried food on the rack to allow them to drip off the oil for a moment.

Arrange the fried chicken on the plate and serve with a wedge of lemon and sprinkle with salt if you like.

Remarks

1) The timing of frying could be an increase or decrease depend on the size of your chicken, the size of the chicken we use in the picture is a whole leg meat about 300 grams, and we cut it into 8 square pieces.

2) As long as the product is cook and crispy, then you did it.