Chicken Nanban consists of succulent chicken thigh or breast which is coated in thin batter and fried. We will refry it again in a sweet and sour then top it with a rich Japanese style tartar sauce. Normally this would be eaten with thinly sliced white cabbage and a side salad. In my personal opinion it also goes great with fried potatoes or Japanese potato salad.
Servings 2servings
Prep Time 30 minutesmins
Cook Time 25 minutesmins
Total Time 55 minutesmins
Ingredients
Chicken
2Chicken Thighs - around 550g (Boneless / Skin on) For a healthier alternative use skinless chicken breast
1Egg
3tbspFlour
Tartar Sauce
2Boiled Eggs
1/4Medium Onion (50g approx)
2tbspGreek Yoghurt
2tbspMayonnaise (Preferably Kewpie Mayo)
1tspEnglish Mustard (Optional)
40gChopped Pickled Gherkin's (Optional)
1pinchSalt
1pinchBlack Pepper
Sauce
3tbspLight Soy Sauce
2tbspMirin
3tbspRice Vinegar
2tbspSugar
Marinade
1tbspSake / Rice Wine / White Wine
1pinchSalt
1pinchPepper
4tbspOil for cooking (23cm pan)
Instructions
Chicken prep and Marinade
If you are using chicken thighs remove the bone and open up the thigh. If you are using breast, then butterfly it.
Put your chicken with the marinade ingredients in to a sandwich bag and seal it. Give a good shake and put it the fridge for 30 mins approx.
Tartar Sauce
Finely dice the onion and put in to cold water for approx 5 minutes, to reduce the onion strength. Drain and dry the onions using kitchen paper.
Peel your boiled eggs, and mash them in a mixing bowl.
Add the onions, mayo and yoghurt to the mashed egg (if using pickles add them now).
Add the mustard with a pinch of salt and pepper then mix well. Put in to the fridge ready for serving.
Sauce
Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set to one side for later.
Chicken
Remove the chicken from the fridge and the marinade. Using kitchen paper dry the chicken.
Beat one egg in a bowl.
Add the flour to a baking tray.
Add the oil to a frying pan over a medium heat.
Dip the chicken into the flour first, then into the egg and finally place the chicken skin side down in the pan. Shallow fry until the chicken is cooked through turning half way.
Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and set aside. Clean the pan of excess oil.
Add the sauce ingredients to the pan and bring it to the boil.
Put the chicken back into the pan with sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken to cover it. Cook for 2 minutes on each side to coat the chicken with the sauce. Remove for plating.
Cut the chicken into 2cm slices and add to the plate, spoon over the tartar sauce and sprinkle with a little parsley to make it look beautiful.
Hope you Enjoy! :)
Notes
If you prefer to just use Mayo rather than adding the Greek Yoghurt, simply add 4 Tbsp of Mayo. The Japanese Kewpie Mayo gives the best results.