1
StepCut the chicken thighs into pieces about 4 cm across, leaving the skin on — it renders in the fryer and adds most of the flavour. Keep the pieces roughly even so they cook at the same rate.
Snacks
Crispy Chicken Karaage
Thigh meat marinated in soy, sake and ginger, coated in potato starch and fried twice so the crust stays brittle long after it leaves the oil. The second fry at higher heat is what keeps it crisp on the way to the table.
40 min
Prep: 25 / Cook: 15
4
servings
Medium
Difficulty
4.5
6 Ratings
Ingredients
- 800 g boneless chicken thigh
For the marinade
- 60 ml soy sauce
- 30 ml sake
- 20 g ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
For frying
- 80 g potato starch
- 1 l neutral oil
To serve
- 1 piece lemon
- 0 japanese mayonnaise
Preparation
6 Steps
2
StepGrate the ginger and garlic on a microplane and squeeze the ginger pulp so you get juice as well as fibre. Mix with the soy sauce, sake, sugar and sesame oil, add the chicken and massage it in. Leave for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, or up to a day in the fridge.
3
StepHeat the oil in a deep pan to 160 C. Meanwhile lift the chicken out of the marinade, let it drip briefly, and toss each piece in the potato starch until dry and chalky all over. Shake off the excess and rest the pieces on a rack for 5 minutes.
4
StepFry in batches of six or seven for 3 minutes, keeping the oil between 155 and 165 C. The coating should be set and pale gold, not brown. Lift onto a rack and rest for 4 minutes — the residual heat finishes cooking the centre.
5
StepRaise the oil to 190 C and return the chicken, in batches again, for 60 to 90 seconds until deep golden and audibly crisp when you tap it with the tongs.
6
StepDrain on a rack rather than paper so steam does not soften the underside, and serve at once with lemon wedges and Japanese mayonnaise.
Chef's Tip
Potato starch rather than flour is what gives karaage its glassy, shattering crust — cornflour is the closest substitute if you cannot find it. Let the coated pieces sit for five minutes before frying so the starch hydrates and grips the meat instead of falling off in the oil.
Comments (3)
marinated before work and fried it after my shift. held up fine all day in the fridge
potato starch only, no flour, and it was still crisp an hour later on the table
best bar snack i have made all year. the second fry is not optional