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  • 2 days ago
Chicken karaage is a Japanese fried chicken dish known for its juicy marinated meat, crisp coating, and deep savory flavor. This recipe focuses on a crispy-crunchy karaage method, using bite-sized chicken pieces seasoned with ingredients such as soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sake, and a light starch coating that fries into a golden shell. The marinating step helps the chicken absorb umami flavor, while the coating creates a textured surface that turns crisp when cooked in hot oil. As the pieces fry, the outside becomes crunchy and lightly browned while the inside stays tender and moist. The final karaage can be served with lemon, shredded cabbage, rice, or Japanese mayonnaise, making it a satisfying appetizer, lunch, or dinner with a balanced mix of crisp texture, juicy chicken, and classic Japanese fried flavor.
Transcript
00:00Hey everyone, I'm Yuto and today on Statue I'm going to show you how to make the most
00:04delicious and crispy Japanese chicken karaage ever. Let's get started.
00:10I'm going to start by placing about 350 grams of skin on chicken thigh in a seedable bag.
00:16I tenderise the chicken by stabbing it with a fork all over before cutting into bite-sized pieces.
00:22This will make it softer and absorb more flavour.
00:25Add half teaspoon of salt and massage it until all the pieces are evenly covered.
00:32Next, we're going to flavour the chicken, so add one and a half tablespoon of grey ginger,
00:38a tablespoon of grey garlic,
00:43half a tablespoon of grey apple, one tablespoon of sake,
00:48a teaspoon of Japanese mayonnaise, one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil,
00:54a teaspoon of shirodashi, or if you don't have it, you can use light soy sauce,
00:59half a teaspoon of Chinese chicken bouillon powder, and a sprinkle of white pepper powder.
01:06If you don't want to touch the chicken, you can massage everything together by scrunching the bag,
01:11but I find it's quicker and more thorough to get stuck in and mix it by hand.
01:16Okay, once it looks evenly covered, add one tablespoon of all-purpose flour,
01:22and one tablespoon of tapioca starch.
01:25Massage it once more until all the pieces are evenly covered.
01:34Then push the air out of the bag, seal it up, and marinate it in the fridge for about 30
01:40minutes.
01:41I recommend leaving it for an hour if you have time.
01:49So once it's finished marinating, start heating your oil to 160 degrees Celsius,
01:55that's about 320 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:58While we wait for the oil to heat up, take a container and add 4 tablespoons of potato starch
02:05and 2 teaspoons of water. Use chopsticks or a fork to spread the moisture around.
02:12This will help the starch clump up a little. The goal here is to make small balls of starch
02:19for something I like to call the hailstone effect. These little hailstones will be used to coat the
02:25chicken and make it extra crispy. I also like to use my hand to squeeze it a bit for a
02:31few bigger
02:32hailstones here and there. When that's done, coat each piece of the marinated chicken generously with
02:42the hailstone starch. Make sure the chicken isn't too wet before you do this. Shake off the marinade
02:48before rolling it into the starch. The hailstone effect is optional. You can just use the starch as
02:55it is if you prefer, but I seriously recommend it if you like me and prefer your karage extra crispy.
03:06Okay, let's place them in the oil. We will be frying these in multiple batches to prevent the oil
03:12temperature from dropping too much. Fry them for about 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Don't worry
03:18about them being cooked all the way through because we're going to double fry them.
03:24After 3 minutes, let them rest on a wire rack while you cook the next batch. This will allow them
03:31to
03:31continue cooking in the residual heat. This Japanese-style frying pot is great because
03:36it drains the oil back into the pot.
03:44Once you've cooked all the chicken, increase the oil temperature to somewhere between 180 to 190 degrees
03:51Celsius or about 360 Fahrenheit and fry them again for about 1 minute or until a deep golden brown.
04:00I find double frying prevent both undercooking and overcooking and it makes the exterior extra crispy
04:07which is my main goal with this recipe. Once they're done, drain on a wire rack once more and that's
04:14it.
04:15The ultimate crispy and flavorful Japanese karaage chicken.
04:21I hope you enjoyed that one. If you want to learn more about karaage, including other marinade options,
04:27flour starch choices, and other tips, check out the blog post. The link is on the screen now.
04:34I hope to see you next time. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.
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