Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Hirshon Marinade:
- 9 oz. bone-in or boneless, skin-on chicken thigh (have your butcher debone)
- 9 oz. bone-in or boneless, skin-on chicken breast (if you really prefer thigh, use that instead)
- 1 tsp. grated garlic
- 2 tsp. grated ginger
- 2 1/2 tsp. top-quality white miso soup from a package (TFD optional but highly-recommended addition)
- 1 Tbsp. grated Gala apple
- 1 Tbsp. grated kiwi fruit (you can replace with grated apple, but the kiwi is better)
- 1 scallion, dark green portion removed, leaving a 2″ piece of light green/white part with the root removed – mince and crush into a paste
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tbsp. Bluegrass soy sauce (use a good Japanese brand to replace)
- 4 Tbsp. Hokkaido-style sake (if you prefer, use dry sake if that’s all you’ve got)
- ***
- Coating:
- 1 medium egg, beaten
- 2 Tbsp. Wondra flour (strongly preferred) or cake flour
- 5 1/2 Tbsp. potato starch (strongly preferred) or cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp. Kadoya brand sesame oil
- ***
- The Hirshon Zantare Dipping Sauce:
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar (increase to 2 Tbsp. if not using Bulldog sauce as noted below)
- 4 Tbsp. Bluegrass Soy Sauce (use a good Japanese brand to replace)
- 3 Tbsp. Hokkaido-style Sake (use regular premium sake if unavailable)
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp. Japanese Bull Dog sauce (TFD change to original recipe – if not available, use Worcestershire for original)
- 1 1/2 tsp. Green Yuzu Kosho (TFD optional, but strongly recommended ingredient, omit for original)
- A touch of freshly-ground Black or White pepper
- ***
- Rice Bran Oil for frying
- lemon wedges for garnish
- optional lightly-dressed wasabi microgreens on the side
- Hokkaido beer – TFD likes Sapporo
Instructions
- Cut excess fat, bits of bone or cartilage, and sinew off the chicken. Poke the meat all over on both sides with the tip of your knife. Cut into large bite-sized pieces – the breast meat cut into pieces lengthwise, thigh meat into chunks.
- Place all the pieces in a mixing bowl and knead the meat with the sesame oil.
- In another mixing bowl, mix the remaining marinade ingredients. Add the pieces of chicken and mix well with your hands.
- Leave to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature – note that overnight marination in the fridge is STRONGLY preferred, or you can even leave it up to 2 days in the fridge for the best flavor to infuse into the meat! Stir the meat in the bowl every few hours if overnight or longer.
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and mix in the beaten egg and sesame oil. Add the flour a little at a time, mixing well between additions. Add the potato starch a spoonful at a time and mix until the chicken is coated with a thick slurry. Mix the sauce ingredients and reserve before cooking.
- Add enough frying oil to fully immerse the chicken in a pot or wok and heat it to 320 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take each piece of chicken out of the batter and stretch the chicken skin around the meat to make a little rounded packet. Put the chicken pieces into the oil a few at a time – fry only all breast meat or all thigh meat in the same batch so they cook evenly together and the oil stays at temperature. Fry for four minutes, turning once.
- Take the pieces out of the oil and place on a draining rack to rest for four minutes; they’ll continue to cook with residual heat. (You’ll need to fry the chicken in batches, so as soon as one batch finishes, take it out and start the next one.)
- When all the pieces have been fried once, heat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the chicken pieces back in a few at a time, and fry for two more minutes until crispy and dark golden brown. Here is the secret trick: while frying, stir and lift them up out of the oil frequently. This will make the Zangi batter extra crunchy!
- Drain again and serve piping hot with lemon wedges with the optional lightly-dressed wasabi microgreens on the side. Serve sauce on the side with some ice-cold Sapporo beers!