After the tonkatsu we introduce another fried dish, karaage. A popular dish in Japanese cuisine, presentation :
The karaage, crunchy and delicious fritter
The karaage 唐揚げ is a fairly light fried doughnut, usually chicken for the most part but there are also some with meat, fish, seafood. For preparation, the meat is previously marinated with shoyu soy sauce, finely chopped ginger, and garlic in small pieces. Then potato starch is added and a thick paste is obtained. Each piece is fried in oil. The dish is accompanied by a bowl of Japanese rice, a quarter of lemon to spice up the fritters, and “western” vegetables such as green salad, tomatoes, cabbage and miso soup.
Of course this dish is fatty, so it should be eaten sparingly. These fritters are very light and crispy, a delight.
Karaage can be eaten as is, or with sauces such as Kewpie mayonnaise, Chilimayo, ketchup and sometimes to caramelize it we add mirin and/or sake in the marinade.
The main ingredients
Mostly chicken
Fish and seafood (rarest)
meat
Japanese shoyu soy sauce
Ginger
Garlic
As a garnish, cabbage, salad, tomato…
As a side dish, a slice of lemon
In Japanese cuisine
Karaage is found in izakaya (Japanese bars), Japanese restaurants and combini (local supermarket). You can also find some pieces of it in bento !
It is a cheap and very popular dish in Japan, so you will not have trouble finding it. As we have seen the chicken is often used in this dish, depending on the region each one has its own speciality and will not use the same pieces of chicken (chicken wing, chicken breast, half a chicken with hijiki seaweed, or mushrooms, marinated …). The recipes are very varied.
The variations
There are other dishes similar to karaage, we will mention:
The chicken nanban チキン南蛮, this one is marinated and fried accompanied by white sauce.
The Tatsutaage, this one was marinated in soy sauce, mirin, sake and brushed with katakuriko flour resembling potato starch.
The Tempura are doughnuts where the dough is much thinner and less crispy than karaage
Karaage are easy to make, here is our karaage recipe
