Crispy Fried Chicken
This dish was definitely a hit with Hubby coz he just loves fried chicken, more so, crispy fried chicken. This recipe is taken from Katsuyo Kobayashi's "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook". Her ecipe calls for boneless chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces but I decided to go with the chicken legs which I slit on one side and spread the meat out.
Hubby's fav
Ingredients:
3 chicken legs (Katuyo's book lists 3 boneless chicken thighs)
1 tsp fresh ginger juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sake
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sesame oil
3 to 4 heaping tbsp potato starch (I didn't have this on hand so I used tapioca starch which I felt was more crisp)
vegetable oil for deep frying
a few sprigs of parsley
1. Season chicken with ginger juice, soy sauce, sake, pepper and sesame oil. Coat chicken with potato starch.
2. Heat oil in fry pan to medium. Add chicken skin-side-down and fry until golden brown. Turn over.
3. Lower heat slightly and continue frying until chicken is almost cooked. Return heat to high and turn chicken over once more, to crisp. Remove from oil and drain well.
4. Serve with parsley.
Tip from cookbook: It is not necessary to use a lot of oil. If you fill a fry pan halfway with oil, the chicken pieces will be able to "air" during cooking, which makes them crispier.
Japanese Pan-fried Chicken
Why is it that the picture in cookbooks always always look so much more attractive then the real thing that you cook in your kitchen? Hubby says it is all in the touching up of the pictures. Well, sometimes, I wonder.
The picture of the Japanese Pan-fried Chicken look so good and crispy that I just had to try and make it. Yep, this is another recipe in "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook" by Katsuyo Kobayashi. This time I will be using sake that we had just bought. The ingredients list the items I used and if you would like to know the original then you should just check out the cookbook.
Hmmm ....
Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken thighs
2 tbsp sake + 1 1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
broccoli
carrot
1. For the sauce, combine sake, sugar and soy sauce. Set aside.
2. Heat up the pan. Place the chicken skin-side down and fry over medium-high heat til crisp and golden brown. Turn the other side and do the same.
3. Add broccoli and carrots.
4. When meat is just cooked, add sauce. Turn chicken and vegetables repeatedly to develop the flavour.
5. When the sauce thickens, remove chicken and cut into bite-size pieces.
* The broccoli and carrots were my addition. Katsuyo Kobayashi's recipe had fresh shiitake mushrooms and shishito green peppers (or small bell peppers). She also listed optional seasonings which are Japanese sansho pepper and shichimi togarashi red pepper or chili flakes.
