Chicken breast karaage 鶏胸肉の唐揚げ

I had some extra chicken breasts which needed to be used before they went bad. So I decided to make kara-age 唐揚げ. The difference between kara-age and tastuta-age 竜田揚げ may be sometimes blurred and this one can be considered a type of tatsuta-age as well. I posted tatsuta-age using chicken thighs and marinade of soy sauce and mirin previously.

I used one bone-less and skin-less chicken breast for two small servings. I cut the chicken breast into small and flat bit size pieces using shaving cut or "sogi-giri" 削ぎ切り in which the knife blade is placed on a slant against the grain of the meat. I made about 12-13 pieces of 1/4 inch thickness.

I heated peanut oil in a frying pan (about 1/2 inch deep) to 340F or 170C on medium flame.

Just before frying, I put the chicken pieces in a small bowl and added enough soy sauce to coat (about 1 tbs) and grated ginger root (1/2 tsp, optional). I massaged or kneaded the chicken pieces so that soy sauce and ginger will evenly coat and somewhat penetrate the meat. Then, I dredged the pieces with potato starch or katakuriko 片栗粉 and fried it. Since these were rather thin pieces, they only needed to cook about 1 minute or less on each side.

I drained the oil and served the chicken pieces hot with my usual celery salad. Since the chicken was seasoned with soy sauce there was no need to salt. Compared to the thigh, this is much quicker to cook and also the taste and texture are different. Since I did not use mirin, it may be more suitable as a drinking accompaniment. Any drinks will go well with this dish but the best would be beer or cold sake.