While I could make the case that fried chicken is the perfect dish for any time of year, crispy Japanese-style fried chicken (karaage), paired with one of this season’s sparkling rosés is the perfect match for the “false spring.”
If you make one recipe from this issue, it should be this chicken.
The key ingredient in the marinade is shio koji, a natural seasoning used in Japanese cooking to season, tenderize, and enhance the umami flavor of a dish. Made from steamed rice that has been treated with koji mold spores, it is an essential ingredient in soy sauce, miso, fermented bean paste, and sake. Rice koji (cooked rice that has been inoculated with koji spores and then dried) is combined with salt and water. The mixture is left to ferment for about a week. This process creates a live food culture that is rich in enzymes. Used for centuries in Japan, it is now becoming the darling of American chefs, with its ability to increase the flavor and tenderness of many ingredients. As several American and Asian chefs have written, Shio Koji = Magic.
You can mail order the product from Amazon or purchase a more refined version from Toiro. The recipe I share with you here comes from the Hikari Miso website, where I order my bottles of shio koji.
I use a wok to fry the chicken, which has been cut into bite-sized pieces, marinated and tossed with cornstarch or potato starch. You could also use a heavy skillet, but in either case an instant-read thermometer makes everything easier. I think potato starch creates the crispiest coating, but it’s often hard to find. With either starch, the finished product is lighter and less of a mess to prepare than most versions of fried chicken. It’s also better. The fried chicken is good piping hot or at room temperature.
I asked a few friends in the wine business for suggestions about what sparkling rosés to drink with karaage chicken. They gave me these recommendations, all for around $20 a bottle:
- Gaglioppo Icanto Rosa, produced in Italy
- Cerdon, made with Gamey grapes from south of Beaujolais, France
- Cremant d’Alsace, from Eastern France
I loved karaage, especially from my grandfather. I can still remember the taste of it… I was about four or five years old. My grandfather really liked to drink, so my family often went to a favorite izakaya (informal Japanese pub) to eat. This is my earliest food memory. I would always sit next to my grandfather and he would share his karaage with me
Katorao Meguru, Chef, Abysse Restaurant in Tokyo
Fried Chicken, Japanese Style
Ingredients
1 lb (450g) boneless chicken thigh with skin, each thigh cut into 2 pieces or 1 ½ lbs. chicken thighs on the bone with skin
4 tbsp. shio koji
1 tsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. grated garlic
1 tsp. soy sauce
½ cup potato starch or corn starch or a mixture of the two
Vegetable oil for deep frying (I recommend rice bran oil)
Lemon wedges to serve
Instructions
- Combine chicken with shio koji, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce in a bowl or large plastic bag. Marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to a day.
- Heat up a pot of oil for deep-frying. I prefer a wok. The ideal oil temperature is about 320°-335°F (160 °-170 °C). Higher than that and you risk burning the coating of the chicken before the interior is cooked.
- When the oil is almost ready, put the potato starch in a bowl or paper bag and toss in the marinated chicken, shaking to lightly coat the pieces.
- Gently drop each piece of chicken into the hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Cook in batches — don’t crowd the pan.
- When done, transfer the chicken onto a metal rack or a plate lined with paper towels. Continue with a new batch to deep fry.
- Serve with fresh lemon wedges, or Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise seasoned to taste with yuzu kosho , a fermented paste made with hot peppers, yuzu peel and salt, available at Japanese grocery stores, or from the ubiquitous Amazon.
Note: If you are making this for a crowd or want to cook the chicken on the bone, you should use the double fry method. Heat the oil to 320°F. Fry chicken for a couple of minutes, until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Just before serving, take the oil up to 350°F, and fry until deep golden brown and cooked through. This will take under a minute. Use longer times at both cooking temperatures for chicken on the bone. You want the temperature of the chicken to reach 165°F, taking it out at 160°F, to allow for carry-over cooking.
This is truly the MOST AMAZING fried chicken EVER!! Ostin and Zephyr…. and I… love LOVED!!
Thank you Chef Lisa 😘
Another wonderful edition! You turned me on to the Japanese style fried chicken at lunch one day in Chicago and I’m going to screw up my courage and try to make it at home. Using your recipe of course!
Mouth watering! Oh and have an add’l Rose reco – grape I was not familiar with but when sipping on it last week just kept thinking how perfect fried chicken would be with it…Tibouren (the grape) Rose 2016 – Clos Cibonne, cotes de Provence
Never thought of Japanese and fried chicken together, but your recipe has inspired me to give it a try. After hearing the great comments, can’t wait to get started!