Chicken karaage with salted egg and coconut cream sauce
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.
Servings 2 people
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.