Karaage chicken

What it is

Karaage is boneless chicken thigh cut into bite-size pieces, marinated in shoyu, ginger, and garlic, coated in starch, and fried until crisp and light. The starch gives it a shatter-thin crust while the thigh stays juicy inside. A squeeze of lemon at the end and you are set. In Hawaii it usually shows up as a pupu, an appetizer to share, or as the protein on a plate lunch.

A short history

Karaage is a Japanese way of frying, lightly coated pieces cooked in hot oil, and it is everywhere in Japan, from home kitchens to izakaya. It came to Hawaii the same way so much did, with Japanese immigrant families, and settled right in. The islands even grew their own cousin, mochiko chicken, which swaps the starch for sweet rice flour, mochiko, for an extra crunchy, slightly sweet crust.

How to make it at home

Thighs, not breasts, and potato starch if you can find it, it fries up the crispest. Cornstarch works fine too.

Fry it twice

This is the one technique that separates good karaage from great karaage, and it costs you about two extra minutes.

Fry the pieces the first time at around 325F until they are cooked through and barely colored, about three minutes. Lift them out onto a rack and let them rest for five minutes. Then raise the oil to about 375F and drop them back in for thirty to sixty seconds, just until deep gold.

The first fry cooks the chicken gently so the thigh stays juicy. The rest lets steam escape from inside the crust instead of soaking it. The second, hotter fry drives off surface moisture and sets the coating hard. The result stays crisp for a good while, which single-fried karaage does not.

The other rule is to fry in small batches, five or six pieces at a time. Cold chicken crashes the oil temperature, and karaage fried in cool oil comes out pale and greasy.

Which starch to use

The coating is the personality of the dish, and the three common choices give you three different results.

Potato starch, katakuriko, is what I reach for. It fries up the lightest and crispest, with a delicate shattery crust, and it stays crisp longest. Any Japanese or Korean market has it.

Cornstarch is the easy substitute and it is perfectly good. The crust is a little denser and browns slightly faster. If cornstarch is what is in the cupboard, use it and do not think twice.

Mochiko, sweet rice flour, gives you the island cousin. Mochiko chicken has a chewier, slightly sweet crust and it is its own beloved thing in Hawaii, sold at every school fundraiser and church bazaar. If you go mochiko, add a little sugar to the marinade and let it sit longer.

Whichever you use, coat the pieces right before they go in the oil. Starch sitting on wet marinated chicken turns to paste, and paste fries into a gummy skin.

Serving it

Karaage is finger food first. Pile it in a bowl, put lemon wedges on the side, and set it in the middle of the table as a pupu while everything else finishes cooking.

The lemon is not a garnish. A real squeeze over hot karaage cuts the fat and wakes the whole thing up. Do it right before eating, not in advance, or the crust softens.

Japanese mayo, Kewpie, is the usual dip, sometimes with a little shichimi togarashi or sriracha stirred in. Plain mayo with a squeeze of lemon does the same job.

As a meal it goes over rice with a scoop of mac salad, plate lunch style. Cold karaage in a bento the next day is one of the better lunches going, and unlike most fried food it holds up.

Questions I get

Can I use chicken breast?

You can, but thigh is the right cut. Breast dries out in the time the crust needs to color, and the whole appeal is juicy meat inside a crisp shell. If you only have breast, cut it a little bigger and pull it early.

Can I air fry it?

It will be tasty and it will not be karaage. Without oil the starch coating never really crisps, it just dries. Spray the pieces well and expect something closer to baked chicken.

How long can the chicken marinate?

Thirty minutes is enough, a few hours is better, overnight is fine. The shoyu will start to firm the texture past a day, so I would not go longer than that.

How much oil, and can I reuse it?

Two inches in a heavy pot is plenty, you are not submerging anything deeply. Once it cools, strain it through a coffee filter or fine sieve into a jar and it is good for another two or three fries. Toss it when it darkens, smells off, or starts foaming.

Can I make it ahead for a party?

Fry it once earlier in the day, keep the pieces on a rack at room temperature, then do the second hot fry right before guests eat. That is the double fry working in your favor, and it means no standing over the stove while everyone is there.

Round out the table with the other favorites, or make a batch of spam musubi to go with.