Chicken Karaage

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

1. Put chicken in a Ziploc bag and combine all the ingredients for Seasonings in a bowl and mix all together.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Serve the chicken with lemon wedges. Squeeze the lemon right before you eat. You can dip in Ichimi Togarashi if you enjoy spicy chicken.