Karaage Chicken Donburi with Homemade Sesame Dressing

Ingredients

Karaage Chicken

• 500g boneless chicken thighs
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking sake
• 3 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Cooking oil
• 1 medium or 2 small daikon radish
• 2 tsp salt
• ¼ cabbage
• 1/2 bunch of spinach

Sesame Dressing

• 3 tbsp toasted and ground white sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp Japanese mayo
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar

To Serve

• Short grain white rice
• Japanese mayo
• Japanese togarashi chili
• Japanese pickled ginger
• Lemon wedges

Method

1. Cut the chicken thighs into 2x2cm pieces, place in a bowl and stir through soy sauce, cooking sake and fresh ginger. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes but ideally overnight
2. While the chicken is marinading wash and cook rice
3. Thinly slice the daikon using a mandolin or knife, place in a bowl with the salt and gently rub the salt onto the slices, set aside
4. Shred the cabbage finely using a mandolin or finely chop using a knife and place in a bowl with enough cold water to cover the cabbage, set aside and drain just before serving
5. Place the whole spinach with stems in a pot and pour enough boiling water to cover the spinach. Immediately drain the boiling water and let the spinach cool in a colander. Once cooled cut the ends off and cut into bite size lengths including stems
6. Combine all the dressing ingredients and set aside.
7. Once the chicken is marinated and ready to cook, heat a pan with enough cooking oil to cover the whole pan
8. Mix the flour through the chicken and marinade to create a light batter
9. When the pan has heated, place chicken pieces on the pan leaving plenty of space around each piece
10. Shallow fry on high heat and flip when the edges become golden brown
11. Fry the other side until golden brown and place pieces on a dish lined with paper towel
12. Continue process until all the chicken is cooked.

To serve

1. Serve the cooked rice into bowls
2. Place the daikon, cabbage, spinach and karaage on top of the rice
3. Generously drizzle the sesame dressing over the top
4. Serve with Japanese mayo, togarashi chilli, pickled ginger and lemon wedges if desired.