Servings
Font
Back
Chicken Nanban チキン南蛮
4.4 from 22 votes

Chicken Nanban チキン南蛮

This makes for a perfect meal or snack for kids. Chicken Nanban is a type of Japanese fried chicken and an easy authentic Japanese recipe.

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Servings: 4
Calories: 425 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients

  • 1lb/500g chicken thighs *1
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs sake *2
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2cups/500ml oil 3, for deep fry
Nanban Sauce
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 2 tbs rice vinegar Japanese
  • 1 bird's eye chili 4, called "Takanotsume"
Tartar sauce *5

Instructions

Make Tartar sauce and set aside *5
Making Nanban sauce
    Cup of Yum
  1. Combine all Nanban sauce ingredients except rice vinegar in a small saucepan, bring to boil
  2. Add the rice vinegar and turn the heat off and set aside. *6
Cooking chicken thigh
  1. Place the thigh meat on a chopping board, remove excess fat, and cut them to bite size pieces.
  2. Marinate in soy sauce and sake in a bowl for about 20 minutes.
  3. Add egg and flour to the bowl and mix them well to coat the chicken pieces.
  4. Heat oil in a frying pan to 356°F/180°C. *7
  5. Slide the egg mixture coated chicken thighs in the pan and deep fry until golden brown. *8
  6. Soak the deep fried chicken briefly in the Nanban sauce and serve it with some tartar sauce drizzled over it.

Notes

  • *1 As it is discussed in the above post, you can use chicken breasts if you like. 
  • *2 Sake can be substituted by Chinese wine, or dry sherry. 
  • *3 You need about 2 cups/500ml of deep frying oil. I measured the oil absorption and the oil absorbed was about 2 tbsp/30ml. So this amount of absorption is used for the nutritional fact calculation. 
  • *4 If you can not access this or you don't like spiciness, you can omit this ingredient. Takanotsume can be substituted by a little bit of chilli powder such as Shichimi togarashi.
  • *5 See Tartar sauce recipe and instruction here.
  • *6 As this is discussed in the above post, it is important to add the vinegar last. If you add the vinegar from the beginning, the acidity of the vinegar will evaporate. 
  • *7 If you don't have a thermometer and don't know when to add chicken into the oil, drop a tiny bit of coating into the oil. If it drops about half way down into the oil, then floats back up, it is ready to deep fry the chicken. 
  • *8 You can tell when it is cooked. Lift any chicken up out of the cooking oil with a pair of chopsticks and if you feel tiny vibrations through the chopsticks, it is cooked. 
  • *9 Nutritional values are calculated with 30ml deep frying oil.  

Nutrition Information

Calories 425kcal (21%) Carbohydrates 14g (5%) Protein 24g (48%) Fat 29g (45%) Saturated Fat 7g (35%) Cholesterol 163mg (54%) Sodium 615mg (26%) Potassium 301mg (6%) Fiber 1g (4%) Sugar 6g (12%) Vitamin A 157IU (3%) Calcium 16mg (2%) Iron 2mg (11%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 4 Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 425

% Daily Value*

Calories 425kcal 21%
Carbohydrates 14g 5%
Protein 24g 48%
Fat 29g 45%
Saturated Fat 7g 35%
Cholesterol 163mg 54%
Sodium 615mg 26%
Potassium 301mg 6%
Fiber 1g 4%
Sugar 6g 12%
Vitamin A 157IU 3%
Calcium 16mg 2%
Iron 2mg 11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.