Karaage is a dish usually made with chicken, that’s marinated in soy and sake and then tossed with potato starch before deep frying to crispy perfection. It’s most commonly eaten as an appetizer served with some kewpie mayo and lemon to dip.

Aside from chicken, this dish is so good with any white fish as well. For this recipe, I used kampachi, but I have made it with seabass and halibut in the past and every time it was delicious. You can absolutely deep fry these but I did a quick pan fry on both sides and the result was still crispy and there was much less oil to clean up. Fish cooks quickly, so make sure to cook at a pretty high temperature so you can get the nuggets crispy before they dry out.

These pair perfectly with my Kissed By Binchotan blend and some tangy, blistered shishito peppers.

Ingredients

• 8 oz fresh white fish, cut into 1 inch cubes.
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sake
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
• Potato or corn starch as needed
• 8 oz shishito peppers
• High temp frying oil or ghee
• Kissed by Binchotan Japanese Chile Blend
• Salt and rice vinegar to taste

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Directions

1. Mix garlic, ginger, sake and soy sauce together.
2. Add the pieces of fish into the marinate and let sit in refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.
3. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add oil about 1/2 inch deep.
4. Remove fish from marinade and let excess liquid drip off. Add them to a plate with potato or corn starch and coat generously dusting off any extra starch.
5. When your fish is coated in the starch add them to the pan and fry each side about 2 minutes or until golden brown and crispy but still moist inside. I recommend cooking a test piece and adjust the temperature accordingly. Remember not to overcrowd the pan or the temperature will drop and the fish wont get crispy.
6. When the fish is cooked remove to a tray with a rack or a paper towel and season with Kissed by Binchotan spice blend.
7. In the same pan, turn heat to high and add the shishito peppers. These only take about 2 minutes to blister.
8. Remove peppers when they are cooked and season with salt and a splash of rice vinegar.
9. Serve the peppers and fish together. Enjoy!