Chicken Tempura (Toriten)

1. Before You Start: I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
2. Now, gather all the ingredients.

To Prepare the Chicken

1. Pound ¾ lb boneless, skinless chicken breast with a meat tenderizer. If you don’t own one, you can use the back of the knife. This helps to yield a thinner and flatter piece of meat, so the meat cooks faster and more evenly (with no more overcooking!)
2. Cut the meat into strips roughly ¾ inch (2 cm) wide and 3 inches (7.5 cm) long.
3. Grate 1 knob ginger (I use a ceramic grater) and 1 clove garlic.
4. Season the chicken with freshly ground black pepper, ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 1 tsp sake, and 2 tsp soy sauce.
5. Add the grated ginger and garlic and mix well with your hands to rub the chicken with the seasonings.

To Make the Batter

1. Set a medium bowl over a large bowl with ice water in it. Add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and whisk well.
2. With a fine-mesh sieve, sift ⅓ cup cake flour and ⅓ cup potato starch or cornstarch into the bowl with the egg.
3. Gradually add ⅓ cup water and mix it all together until just combined (don’t overmix).

To Deep-Fry

1. Add the chicken pieces and coat well with the batter.
2. Heat 3–4 cups (720-960 ml) neutral oil to 350ºF (180ºC) in a deep fryer (or in a medium-size pot). Add in only 2–3 pieces of battered chicken at one time. To prevent the temperature of the oil from decreasing, do not add too many cold chicken pieces at once. Deep-fry each batch until crispy on the outside, about 4 minutes total, 2 minutes each side. Then, repeat with another 2–3 pieces, until all pieces are cooked. Between batches, scoop up the tempura crumbs in the oil to keep your oil clean.

To Serve

1. Serve the Chicken Tempura with shredded cabbage (I use a cabbage slicer that yields thinly shredded cabbage) and ponzu with Japanese Karashi hot mustard on the side.