← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 400 g boneless chicken thighs (or breasts), halved
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 pinch Black pepper
• 3 tbsp Plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 egg, beaten, for coating
• 500 ml neutral oil, for frying
• 3 tbsp Rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 1 egg, for the tartare
• 2 tbsp Onion, very finely chopped
• 2 tbsp pickles or cornichons, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise (Japanese if possible)
• 1 tbsp Parsley, chopped (optional)
• ¼ Cabbage, finely shredded, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Boil the tartare egg for 10 min, cool it in cold water, then peel and chop it. Rinse the chopped onion in cold water and squeeze it dry. Mix the egg, onion, pickles, mayonnaise and parsley with a pinch of salt and pepper, and chill.
2. Bring the vinegar, soy and sugar to a simmer in a small pan for 1 minute, until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a wide, shallow dish.
3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dust it with flour, then dip it in the beaten egg.
4. Heat 2 cm of oil in a frying pan to 170°C (340°F). Fry the chicken for 6–8 min, turning once, until golden and cooked through to 75°C (165°F).
5. Lift the chicken straight from the oil into the nanban sauce and turn it a few times so the coating soaks up the sauce.
6. Slice and serve on shredded cabbage with plenty of tartare spooned over, and rice on the side.

Tips

• The egg coating goes soft and custardy in the sauce, which is exactly the point.
• Contains egg, wheat and soy.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101 Chopstick Chronicles