Tori no karaage

Tori no karaage (Japanese deep fried chicken) is probably one of my all time favorite japanese dish. If I go to a japanese restaurant, I would order this just to compare the taste from different places. My favorite karaage place is still the one I used to eat in Melbourne. Forgot the name, but it's japanese bento place owned by Cantonese people (surprisingly!) near my workplace on Bourke St.

The recipe, again, is a simplified and modified version, because as you guys know, I'm such a lazy bum. If I could cut down 5 minutes of cooking time to get more time sleeping, I'd do that.




Ingredients:
Chicken thigh fillets, cut to bite size.
Teriyaki sauce.
Ginger, tiny bit.
Cornstarch flour.

Methods:
1. Marinade chicken fillets with teriyaki sauce and ginger. Original recipe asked for mirin, soy sauce and sugar, and if you prefer to go by the book feel free to do so, but I've tried cooking with both and there were no significant difference in taste and appearance. With every chicken dishes, I always sprinkled lime juice when I clean the chicken to get rid of the smell. Leave chicken to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

2. Drain chicken well, toss it in a plastic bag filled with cornstarch flour. Shake the bag until the chicken coats well.

3. Shake off excess flour and fry in small batches until it's golden brown. Serve with mayonaise as dipping sauce.

Also, don't substitute thigh with breast fillets as it won't taste as good. I usually buy heaps of thigh fillets and marinade them in big batches and store them in freezer. So whenever I want to make teriyaki chicken or karaage I can use them. But looking at my hubby's portion, he would finish them no matter how many pieces I prepared. In a way, I'm happy that he enjoyed my cooking, but as well as worry about the groceries budget. That's why I gave up on sticking to the budget long time ago :)

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