Bite-sized pieces of chicken fillet are seasoned, tossed in potato starch, fried twice then tossed with a thick sauce made with salted egg powder, coconut cream and curry leaves.
Cook’s notes
There is a recipe for fried chicken wings with salted egg sauce in the archive. Is this just a boneless version of the same recipe? No.
The flavor and aroma are different, and the ingredients for the two recipes are not the same.
Pure salted egg yolk paste and garlic are used in the sauce for the chicken wings recipe. The garnish is fried Thai basil. The overall flavor? Southeast Asian.
In this recipe, the sauce is made with salted egg seasoning powder mixed with coconut cream to form a thin paste. Curry leaves are thrown in for aroma and a complex flavor that is at once citrusy, earthy, and nutty with a subtle bitterness. The flavor profile? South Asian.
Tip: Salted egg seasoning powder is saltier than egg yolk paste out of a jar. After adding the coconut cream, taste the sauce first before deciding whether to add fish sauce, and how much.
Chicken karaage with salted egg and coconut cream sauce
Ingredients
Karaage
- 250 grams chicken thigh fillets (8.8 oz) skin on
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- ½ teaspoon grated garlic
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- cooking oil for deep frying
- 2 tablespoons potato starch
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 handful curry leaves
- 2 to 3 tablespoons salted egg seasoning powder (available in Asian groceries)
- ½ cup coconut cream
- fish sauce
- 2 pinches chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
- Wipe the chicken fillets dry with paper towels then cut into one-inch cubes.
- Place the chicken cubes in a bowl, add the fish sauce, rice wine, garlic and ginger. Mix thoroughly.
- Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Fry the chicken
- In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of three inches.
- Toss the chicken cubes with the potato starch.
- With the heat set to medium (310F to 325F), fry the chicken for about five minutes (the crust with be lightly crisp but pale). Scoop out and rest on a plate lined with paper towels (or use a rack).
- Turn up the heat to high (325F to 375F), refry the chicken pieces for another minute or two until golden. Spread on a plate lined with paper towels or on a rack (the side-by-side photos above shows the chicken after the first and second frying).
Cook the sauce
- Pour off the oil from the pan leaving only a trace.
- Over medium-high heat, spread the curry leaves in the oil and stir around until they start to wilt.
- Stir in the salted egg seasoning powder then pour in the coconut cream.
- Cook, stirring, until the powder has blended into the coconut cream and the mixture has acquired the consistency of a thin paste. Taste and add fish sauce, if needed. Stir in the chili flakes, if using.
- Turn off the heat, dump the chicken karaage into the sauce and toss to coat each piece.
Serve
- Tip the contents of the pan into a shallow bowl.
- Serve the chicken with rice.
Korean fried chicken wings