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The Yomiuri Shimbun Garlic soy sauce-flavored fried chicken with potatoes
By Ryo Kato / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
17:00 JST, June 23, 2024
As summer draws nearer each day, chef Ryo Imai introduces a recipe for fried chicken that makes the perfect lunch box to enjoy outside this season. Seasoned with garlic soy sauce, the dish has an addictive taste.
Imai uses chicken wings, or drumettes more specifically. “Thighs may be a classic part of fried chicken, but biting into a bone-in piece of meat lifts your spirits,” he says.
Of course, some people don’t like the bother of eating meat with bones. Making a deep cut along the bone helps the meat come off easily when you eat it. Done this way, the meat soaks up the seasoning well and the heat quickly.
“That little extra step makes all the difference,” Imai says.
The wings have a simple seasoning of soy sauce and garlic, but a pinch of salt sharpens the flavor.
A mixture of flour and potato starch is used for the batter. Potato starch creates a crunchy texture but absorbs too much oil, leaving the food greasy when cooled. By mixing in flour, the dish turns an appetizing color and even tastes good cold.
Imai deep-fries the chicken slowly over medium heat and then turns the temperature up high to avoid the inside being undercooked while keeping the outside crispy.
He then cooks French fries. The potatoes are soaked for a good amount of time to remove the starch on the surface to prevent them from becoming sticky when deep-fried.
The leftover batter from the chicken is used to cook the potatoes. Imai recommends using the same oil as the chicken so that the meat’s savory flavor is transferred to the potatoes.
“Some people may think it’s not good to deep-fry at home because using so much powder and oil is wasteful. But you can solve that problem by reusing the batter,” Imai says. “On top of that, fried chicken and French fries go so well together.”
The garlic’s aroma and the crispy texture of freshly fried chicken makes me want to keep eating piece after piece. Even when cooled, the dish doesn’t have an unpleasant oily taste. The French fries are coated with the well-seasoned batter, and once you eat one, you won’t be able to stop. A heaping pile of chicken and fries served outside would surely excite anyone.
Garlic soy sauce-flavored fried chicken
Ingredients (Serves 2):
8 chicken drumettes
2 potatoes
1 garlic clove (grated)
Oil for frying
Yomiuri Shimbun photos Top: Cut a slit into each piece of chicken along the bone. Center: Dry the chicken and dust with the flour and starch mixture. Bottom: Deep-fry the chicken in oil.
Directions:
1. Cut a slit into each piece of chicken along the bone as shown in the picture.
2. Put the chicken, garlic, 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and sake, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and ¼ teaspoon of salt in a zip lock bag and seal the bag tightly while removing the air. Leave the bag in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
3. Wash the potatoes well. Remove any sprouts and cut the potatoes into bite-sized wedges with the skin on. Soak them in plenty of water for 20 minutes.
4. Mix 4 tablespoons each of flour and potato starch in a bowl. Dry the chicken and dust with the mixture.
5. Deep-fry the chicken in oil at 170 C for 5-6 minutes. Do not move the chicken until the batter is cooked. Turn the temperature to high to color the batter well, before taking out the chicken.
6. Dust the potatoes with the leftover flour mixture. Put the potatoes into low-temperature oil and deep-fry for 4-5 minutes while turning the temperature to high until the color changes.
7. Serve the fried chicken and potatoes in a portable container.
Sesame, whitebait rolled omelet
The Yomiuri Shimbun Sesame and whitebait rolled omelet
For a side dish, Imai introduces a recipe for a sesame and whitebait rolled omelet. Beat three eggs in a bowl with 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise. Add 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce to the mixture, along with 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds and 20 grams of whitebait.
Season a frying pan with a bit of oil over medium-low heat, pour in one-fourth of the egg mixture, and spread it over the pan. When cooked, roll the thin egg sheet toward you. Spread the same amount of mixture over the pan and under the rolled crepe again to be cooked in the same way. Repeat the process, building up layers, until the mixture is used up. Slice the rolled omelet to serve.
