Toriten (Oita-Style Chicken Tempura)

Name: Toriten (Oita-Style Chicken Tempura)
Total time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: Chicken breast 1 (about 300 g); Egg 1; Flour (all-purpose) 6 tbsp; Garlic (tube paste is OK) 1/2 tsp; Ginger (tube paste is OK) 1/2 tsp; Ponzu soy sauce 3 tbsp; Karashi (Japanese hot mustard, tube is OK) 1/2 tsp; Vegetable oil About 400 ml; Soy sauce 1 tbsp; Sake (Japanese rice wine) 1 tbsp; Ice-cold water (water chilled with ice) 5 tbsp

Serves 2 · About 40 min (15 min of this is just letting it sit in the seasoning)
A home-style dish from Oita Prefecture. Chicken seasoned with soy sauce, fried in tempura batter, and eaten with ponzu mixed with mustard.

① Cut the chicken→② Season and let sit→③ Make the batter→④ Heat the oil→⑤ Fry

What to buy

Meat

Chicken breastChicken thigh is OK too1 (about 300 g)

Eggs & flour

Egg1Flour (all-purpose)6 tbsp

Seasonings

Garlic (tube paste is OK)1/2 tspGinger (tube paste is OK)1/2 tspPonzu soy sauce3 tbspKarashi (Japanese hot mustard, tube is OK)1/2 tsp

Check what you already have

Vegetable oilAbout 400 mlSoy sauce1 tbspSake (Japanese rice wine)1 tbspIce-cold water (water chilled with ice)5 tbsp

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How to make it

Cut the chicken

About 5 min

Put the chicken on a cutting board, hold the knife at a slant, and cut into pieces 1 cm thick and about 5 cm long (slant-cut; about 12 pieces)
If some parts are thick, cut them so they're the same thickness

How to tell it's doneEvery piece is about 1 cm thick.

Season and let sit

Mix, then let sit 15 min

Put the chicken, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sake, 1/2 tsp garlic and 1/2 tsp ginger in a bowl, and rub it in with your hands
Wash your hands with dish soap before touching anything else
Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 15 minutes

While you waitThe surface of the chicken is light brown, and there's less liquid at the bottom of the bowl.

Make the batter

About 3 min

Beat 1 egg in another bowl, add 5 tbsp cold water, and mix
Add 6 tbsp flour and mix lightly with cooking chopsticks. A few lumps of flour are fine
Mix 3 tbsp ponzu and 1/2 tsp Japanese mustard (karashi) paste in a small dish (dipping sauce)

How to tell it's doneWhen you lift the batter with chopsticks, it drips down thickly.

Heat the oil

Medium heatAbout 5 min

Put vegetable oil 2 cm deep (about 400 ml) in a frying pan and set over medium heat
Check the oil temperature: put the tip of dry cooking chopsticks in the oil. If small bubbles keep fizzing from the tip, it's about 170°C. If there are almost no bubbles, it's not hot enough yet. If big bubbles rush out hard, it's too hot, so turn the heat down

How to tell it's doneSmall bubbles keep fizzing from the tip of the chopsticks.

Be carefulOil may splatter. Do not leave while frying. Turn off the heat as soon as you're done, and clean up the oil only after it has cooled completely.

Fry

Medium heatAbout 4 min per batch

Dip the chicken in the batter from step 3 one piece at a time, and gently put it in from the side closest to you. Fry 4–5 pieces at a time
After 2 minutes, flip with cooking chopsticks and fry 1 1/2–2 minutes more
Put them on a rack or paper towels to drain the oil. Fry the rest the same way
Turn off the heat. Put on a plate and serve with the dipping sauce

How to tell it's doneThe batter is pale yellow and crispy, and the bubbles have gotten smaller. Cut the thickest piece: it's white inside, not pink.

Be carefulThe right color for toriten batter is a whitish yellow. You don't need to fry it to a deep golden brown.

📚 Learn more about this dish

📜Food originsHow toriten beganToriten (chicken tempura) from Oita is said to have started at a restaurant in Beppu in the early Showa era.→

🥬 Ingredient guide

Eggs Ninniku (garlic)Shoga (ginger)Shoyu (soy sauce)

🔪 Cutting & cooking tips

Heat levels (high, medium, low)Sogi-giri (angled slicing)

If it didn't work out

Pink insideThe pieces were too thick. If pink, put them back in the oil and fry 1 minute. Next time cut them evenly to 1 cm thick in step 1.

The coating comes offToo much seasoning liquid was left. Next time drain the liquid from the bowl before adding the batter.

The coating is soggyThe oil wasn't hot enough, or you put in too many at once. Next time fry 4–5 pieces at a time.

Too saltyIt sat in the seasoning too long. Next time add the batter after 15 minutes. Dip in the sauce a little at a time.

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Made by YUU, a teen who loves cooking → About me