Ingredients
- 5-10 Chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces (make sure each piece is about the same size so it takes about the same amount of time to deep fry.)
- 1/4 cup potato starch (Please adjust if necessary. If you use 10 chicken thighs, probably about 1/2 cup)
- Oil for deep frying
- A couple of lemon wedges
- Ichimi Togarashi (Japanese red chili pepper flakes) (optional)
Seasonings
- 1/4 onion, grated
- 1/2 Tbsp. ginger (1.5 inch ginger), grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp. sake
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Green onion for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Put chicken in a Ziploc bag and combine all the ingredients for Seasonings in a bowl and mix all together.
- Pour the Seasonings into the Ziploc bag and rub the chicken well with hands. Keep it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, preferably 3-4 hours.
- In a wok, add oil to about half way full and heat it on medium high heat. When you put a chopstick in the oil and bubbles start to appear around the tip, the oil temperature is now around 170C (338F) and ready for deep frying.
- When oil is ready, take out the Ziploc bag from the fridge and transfer the chicken into a bowl and discard the marinade (liquid). Then add potato starch and mix quickly. You don’t need to mix it evenly. The uneven coating gives each piece its unique texture.
- Place each piece of chicken separately into the oil. Do not overcrowd the wok, fry maximum 5 pieces at a time. If you put a lot of chicken in the oil, the temperature will drop quickly and chicken end up absorbing too much oil. Make sure the oil temperature stays around 160 (320F) - 170C (338F) at all time. First, deep fry for 90 seconds. Then transfer the chicken onto a wire rack (if not, paper towel) to drain the oil for 4 minutes. Lastly, deep fry again at 180C (356F) for 45 seconds, or until golden brown.
- Transfer the chicken onto a wire rack to drain the oil. Before you start the next batch, skim/remove leftover crumbs from the oil in order to keep it clean.
- Serve the chicken with lemon wedges. Squeeze the lemon right before you eat. You can dip in Ichimi Togarashi if you enjoy spicy chicken.