One Dinner, Two Versions

I do this from time to time. Make one dinner but with an adult and kid version. Last night, I made homemade chicken nuggets. Well, it's called Karaage Chicken in Japan but it's basically nuggets :) I feel a lot better serving this than the bagged, frozen chicken yukkets (though there is a time and place for those)!

I made the kid version: plain with rice and furikake, apples on the side:



And the adult version with a simple sauce added (recipes below). Also served with tsukemono (Japanese pickled veggies):

Chicken karaage

• 2-4 boneless chicken thighs or breasts, depending on how big they are
• A piece of fresh ginger about the size of your thumb, grated
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs sake or sherry
• cornstarch
• oil for deep frying (I use vegetable oil but I have heard peanut is good)

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces. I use skinless breasts that I have pounded with a tenderizer.

Put the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add the grated ginger, soy sauce and sake, and mix well. Let marinate for a minimum of 1/2 hour, and up to about 1 hour (not too long or the salt in the soy sauce will toughen up the chicken.)

Heat the oil. Toss in enough cornstarch into the marinated chicken so that each piece is completely coated. Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time until a deep golden brown.

Drain well.

Simple Karaage Sauce

Mix 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbs vinegar, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp sesame oil with cut up green onion. Drizzle over chicken.