Ponzu Karaage - Marinaded Fried Chicken

I love izakaya! Japanese pubs are awesome, especially the food. An emphasis on small dishes you can share with friends, designed to go well with beer. I spend a fair amount of my time in them when I can, and I always love to see what different places have on offer!

In the pro cooking world, people often talk about a chef's omelet being a mark of their skills in the kitchen - I like to judge an izakaya by their fried chicken. As I see it, there are 3 things that go into making karaage chicken : marinade, coating & sauce. This particular recipe uses a special marinade, a special sauce and a barely-there crispy coating.

The 'ponzu' in the title refers to the marinade. A ponzu sauce is one with an acidic element like citrus or vinegar ('zu' being from the Japanese word for vinegar). The sauce for this marinade is based on a classic teriyaki, but with a biting (but not unpleasant) acidity from the addition of rice vinegar.

Ingredients
Makes 1 serve for 2-4 people (depending on how much beer is involved in the consumption)

• 250g Boneless Chicken with skin removed
  
• 2 tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 tbs Rice Vinegar
  
• 2 tbs Mirin
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Plain Flour
• Vegetable oil for frying
  
• 1/2 Cup Japanese Mayonnaise (QP brand or similar)
• 1 tbs Goma (toasted black sesame seeds)
• 1 tbs Shichimi (Japanese 7 Spice)

Method

1. Dice chicken into cubes, roughly 2cm across.
   
2. Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin and sugar. Add chicken pieces and mix thorougly.
   
3. Leave in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, although overnight is best.
   
4. To make the sauce, crush the goma between two spoons or roughly in a mortar and pestle. Don't grind to powder, just crush them. Combine with shichimi and mayonnaise. Put aside.
5. Drain chicken and pat dry with paper towel to remove excess moisture.
6. Toss chicken through flour whilst heating oil.
7. Fry chicken in oil & drain on paper towel.
8. Serve with mayonnaise and frosty cold delicious beer.
   

Cooking Notes

• The longer the you marinade the chicken, the better the flavour.
• Make sure to remove as much excess marinade from the chicken before coating in the flour - the more moisture that remains, the less crispy your frying will be.