Master the art of Japanese fried chicken at home

FRIED chicken is adored all over the word, whether it’s hot chicken in Nashville or a parma in Narre Warren. Here, Melbourne’s katsu king passes on his secrets to perfecting the Japanese version at home.

IN an unassuming East Brunswick kitchen, a master quietly plies his trade.

He’s methodically dipping purple-pink chicken thighs into flour, then egg, then dusting them in breadcrumbs before dunking them into a fryer where they bubble and boil golden and crisp.

Fuji Maki-San at Matsumoto. Picture: Rebecca Michael

Drained dry, sliced and placed on rice, served with onions and egg and drizzled in Japanese curry sauce, the katsu curry at Matsumoto Japanese restaurant is a lunchtime hit with tradies and workers from the nearby offices and a dinner time fave with the young families who call this pocket of Melbourne home.

MORE: THE BEST FRIED CHICKEN IN MELBOURNE

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Chef Fuji Maki-San has been making that dish for more than 40 years, and reckons he’s served up more than 600,000 bowls of the stuff. The chef knows his crumbed chicken.

Arriving in Australia from Honsu, Japan, in 1977 he worked in some of Melbourne’s first Japanese restaurants — including Sukiyaki House in Alfred Place and Yuriya in Chinatown — before running his own Hawthorn restaurant.

Since 2006 he’s been here on Lygon St cooking up a kastsu storm.

Crunchy chicken katsu is easy to make at home and is a winner dinner for the whole family. Recipe at taste.com.au

“It’s definitely our most popular dish,” owner Alice Chan says. And why wouldn’t it be?

Fried chicken is adored all over the word, whether hot chicken in Nashville or a parma in Narre Warren and Japan is no different, with its contributions to the canon known as katsu and karaage.

Shaun Presland from Sake restaurant group says katsu is slang for “cutlet” and refers to a breaded meat — usually chicken, pork of beef — while karaage is chicken fried crunchy thanks to potato starch.

“The origin of katsu is pretty cool,” Shaun says. “During WWII the Japanese couldn’t bake conventional bread, so they developed a process for cooking bread using electric current. This created a crust-less loaf that when shredded and lightly toasted, gives long crispy and light breadcrumbs that don’t absorb much oil when fried. The breadcrumbs adhere to the protein using the classic flour-egg-crumb process.”

It’s these Japanese breadcrumbs called panko — larger and coarser than those used in western cooking — that provides katsu’s amped-up crunch.

Shaun Presland from Sake says the perfect karaage should be super crispy and not at all oily

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SKINNY DIPPING

The key with making katsu at home is similar to any crumbing process. Set up three bowls, one filled with plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper, another with two eggs lightly beaten with about 100ml milk, and the third filled with panko (which are now available in most supermarkets, or at specialty Japanese/Asian grocers).

THIGH HIGH

While you can use chicken breast for katsu, Chef Maki-San says thigh is better to use for its more robust flavour.

Season with salt and pepper, then place it into the flour, then egg wash and finally the panko. Place on a tray until ready to fry.

Chicken thigh gives a more robust flavour. Picture Rebecca Michael

If you use chicken breast — or pork loin if you’re making tonkatsu (“ton” means pork in Japanese) — it should be beaten flat between two sheets of plastic film with a rolling pin first.

GOING FOR GOLD

Fry the cutlets in a neutral oil such as canola for about five minutes, until the crumb is golden. Drain on paper towel, slicing the cutlet just before serving.

Fry until golden. Picture: Rebecca Michael

ON THE SAUCE

Alice Chan says they serve katsu with shredded white cabbage, katsu sauce and English mustard.

The finished product. Picture Rebecca Michael

While kastsu sauce can be bought from supermarkets and Asian grocers, it’s also easy to make at home.

To make this taste.com.au katsu sauce, combine 125ml tomato sauce, 60ml water, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp of each of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and finely grated ginger, 2 crushed garlic cloves and ¼ tsp allspice in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Set aside to cool. Transfer to a jug. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

FLAVOUR SAVER

Shaun says just as for katsu, the best meat for chicken karaage is thigh, though white fish and octopus can also be given the karaage treatment. “It’s best to avoid red meats that can bleed when they rest after cooking, not a good look,” he says.

“The perfect karaage should be super crispy and not at all oily. Sake is a great chicken tenderiser and keeps the meat juicy.”

Chicken katsu curry is easy to make at home, see taste.com.au for recipe.

Cut the thighs into bite-sized pieces and trim of any little bones. “For my marinade, I like a 2:1:1 dark soy:sake:mirin mix spiced up with grated garlic, ginger, yuzu and chilli pepper. Marinate for 12 hours, if not overnight.”

BATTER UP

After marinating, drain off pieces and coat them in a very lightly beaten egg white, then directly roll them into potato starch. “It’s very important to use potato starch (katakuriko). Corn starch soaks up too much oil, so don’t even think about it,” Shaun says.

FRY HARD

Let the pieces sit on a plate for about 30 mins while the starch soaks up the egg white. Heat clean vegetable oil to 180C and then re-dust the pieces lightly in starch before deep frying in small batches to keep the oil temperature high. This will ensure the karaage are super crisp.

“Pull them out when as brown as a fox, and check the fattest piece to see if it’s cooked through,” Shaun says.

REST AND REPEAT

Let them sit for a minute before seasoning lightly with salt and serve classic-style with mayonnaise and lemon wedge.

“Ponzu is another very good accompaniment. I like wasabi sour cream with sweet and spicy miso sauce,” Shaun says

CRUNCHY CHICKEN KATSU

Serves: 4
Prep: 25 minutes Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients

3 cup tomato sauce

1 ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 large chicken breast fillets

¼ cup plain flour

1 egg

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

1 telegraph cucumber, halved lengthways, sliced diagonally

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 green onion, thinly sliced

Medium-grain rice, cooked

Sesame seeds, toasted

Lemon wedges

1 Combine the sauces and mustard in a bowl. Set aside until required.

2 Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally to form two thin fillets.

3 Place flour on a plate. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk egg and 1 tbsp water in a shallow bowl. Put breadcrumbs on a plate. Toss 1 piece of chicken in flour to coat. Dip in egg mixture, then toss in breadcrumbs, pressing to secure. Place onto a plate. Repeat with remaining chicken.

4 Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook chicken for three to four minutes each side or until golden and cooked through, adding extra oil if needed. Transfer chicken to a board. Cool for two minutes. Thickly slice.

5 Place lettuce, cucumber, avocado and lemon juice in a bowl and toss gently. Drizzle chicken with sauce and sprinkle with green onion. Serve with salad, rice, sesame seeds and lemon wedges.