A fabulous twist on the sumptuous gorgeous Japanese deep fried chicken dish Tori Kara Age, chicken marinated with soy, sake, ginger and palm sugar, fried in a fresh oregano and thyme thin light tempura style batter. Well not to far of a twist just whats at hand in my larder, I am out of sake and soy sauce, but I do have organic soya sauce and some left over Christmas Tio Pepe sherry that will substitute the sake, I always have ginger and a block of palm sugar in stock and with the lack of fresh herbs from the garden I can just about manage a teaspoons worth of fresh thyme leaves from a desperate thyme plant and I can also turn to the dried bundles of marjoram and oregano hanging in the kitchen to give this dish a twist...Some how I feel a little apothecary coming all over me...
Prep time 10 minutes / Marinate time 1-6 hrs / Cooking time 10 minutes
This is one of the best chicken dishes you could ever eat...Marinated chicken thighs in a soy, (today for me organic soya), Tio Pepe (should be Sake) with a dash of sugar and grated ginger, then tossed in a corn and egg herb thin batter that gives a partial thin crispy yet chewy herby coating that is just divine and very moorish, so make plenty.
Ingredients
(serves 4)
The Marinade
600g approx boneless chicken thigh meat diced 1" chunks
100ml soy or soya sauce
2 tsp sugar
2" ginger grated
10ml sake or tio pepe sherry
Crispy Chicken
1 egg beaten
4 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried red chillies
1 ltrs ground nut oil for frying
1 lime cut in half
Dipping Sauce
75ml soy or soya sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp brown rice vinegar
1 pea size of wasabi paste
1 drop sesame oil
1 small red chilli sliced
Place all the marinating ingredients except the chicken in a saucepan and bring to just a simmer until the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and leave to cool. Once cool add to the chicken, mix well and place in the fridge for at least on hour and if you can and even longer up to 24hrs is brilliant.
Make the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients together, taste and you can adjust the sweet and sour flavour with the level of mirin (sweet) and brown rice vinegar (sour) if you find the soy sauce too salty.
Place the oil in a deep skillet pan and bring up to a medium hot heat around 180 C / 360 F. In a large bowl place the beaten egg and whisk in the cornflour to a smooth batter, add the the dried herbs and chillies, then toss the chicken into the thin batter, drop the chicken into your hot oil and fry in batches for around 3-4 minutes until golden in colour, remove from the oil and leave to drain on paper towel or on home made reusable un paper cloth towels I have made...long story...(another blog to come!)...ie use a tea towel ! Squeeze the lime halves over the rested chicken and serve...
Straight away hot and gorgeously crispy juicy and a little bit chewy fragrant chicken with that thin herb batter, along with the wasabi sesame dip. This would equally go great chopped and tossed over some basmati rice, or stuffed in soft flour tacos, but for my family it is all about the chicken...
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