Karaage Chicken with Sesame Cucumber Salad
• Prep Time: 1 hour 25 minutes • Yields: 2 servings
Ingredients:
1 pkg. Fossil Farms' Chicken Thighs Boneless and Skinless, avg. 1.5 lb.
4 tsp. cornstarch
Vegetable oil
Marinade:
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. cooking sake
½ tsp. Mirin or white sugar
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger including juice
Cucumber Salad:
2 medium cucumbers, peeled if desired, sliced very thinly
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. white sugar
2 tsp. soy sauce
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
Garnish (optional):
Sliced green onion
Red pepper flakes
Equipment:
Method:
1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and cut into bite sized pieces. Put the chicken and the marinade ingredients into a Zip-lock bag or a bowl.
2. Massage the bag well ensuring that all pieces are coated with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.
3. While the chicken marinates, slice the cucumbers and place on paper towel to remove some of the moisture.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, add cucumbers. Stir to coat.
5. Taste and add crushed red pepper flakes (optional). The salad may be made up to 4 hours ahead of serving, but should be served the day it is made.
6. Heat enough oil in a deep pot or pan to 160°C/320°F. The depth of the oil should be about 3-4cm/1¼-1½”.
7. Meanwhile, drain excess marinade from the chicken, place the chicken pieces on paper towels to remove excess liquid, and put them in a bowl.
8. Sprinkle over the cornstarch and turn chicken to coat every piece with cornstarch.
9. Fry chicken in batches. Add several chicken pieces to the oil one by one and fry for about 2.5-3 minutes. You may want to move the chicken pieces around as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot/pan.
10. Take the chicken pieces out of the oil and rest for at least 3-4 minutes on paper towels. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
11. Skim any flour crumbs from the oil if there are any and increase the temperature of the oil to 190-200°C/374-392°F.
12. Put the chicken pieces back into the oil in batches and fry for about 30 seconds to 1 minute until golden brown and crunchy. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
13. Serve immediately with sesame cucumber salad and sliced green onion and red pepper flakes as garnish. Enjoy!