Japanese Fried Chicken Burgers
 
 
Japanese Izakaya fried chicken, meets old-school American burger.
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 small chicken breasts
  • 3 tbsp mirin
  • 3 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 clove garlic, flattened slightly
  • ¾ cup cornstarch (cornflour in Australia)
  • ¼ cup sesame seeds
  • canola or vegetable oil, for frying
  • 4 burger buns
  • Sriracha Coleslaw (recipe linked in post) or other salad, to serve
  • kewpie mayo, to serve
Instructions
  1. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally, so each breast becomes two flat breast-sized pieces, about ½ inch thick. Thinner is better, as they will cook through more easily.
  2. Place the pieces into a bowl, and add the mirin, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Stir to coat everything and leave to marinate for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
  3. When you're ready to cook, place the cornstarch and sesame seeds into a shallow dish and stir them together well. Place a large heavy based frying pan onto a medium heat, and pour in enough oil to create a layer just under ½ inch (1 cm) thick.
  4. To test if the oil is hot enough, place a wooden spoon or chopstick into the oil. If the oil bubbles up gently around the implement that means it's hot enough to cook.
  5. Working quickly, take a piece of marinaded chicken, dip it into the coating mixture, and turn to coat well on all sides. Shake lightly, to get rid of any excess coating and then carefully place the piece into the hot pan.
  6. You may need to cook in batches, so as not to crowd the pan, but make sure that each piece goes into the oil as soon as it is coated. If the coating sits around, it will go gluey and won't become crisp.
  7. Cook each piece of chicken, for about 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown, crispy and cooked through. If you're not sure, the best thing to do is cut a piece open. Under-cooked chicken is not cool.
  8. When the chicken is cooked, you can keep it in a low oven on a lined baking sheet, but it's best to serve them up straight away, on a mayo-slicked bun with a big heaping pile of 'slaw! YUM.
Recipe by The Sugar Hit at http://www.thesugarhit.com/2014/05/japanese-fried-chicken-burgers.html