Today's Recipe

Ⅲ. Meat


3. Maple-colored Fried Chicken


Maple-colored Fried Chicken
(Tatsuta-Age)


　Tatsuta-age, fried chicken Tatsuta style, is named after a river called the Tatsuta in Nara; an ancient capital of Japan. The place where the river runs used to be well known for its beautiful maple foliage in the fall. The maple foliage and the river are composed in two poems in “Poems By A Hundred Poets (Hyakunin Isshu　百人一首) compiled in 13th century. The coating of tatsuta-age is tinted red with soy sauce like maple leaves in the fall.

#17th Poem: “ちはやぶる神代もきかず龍田川から紅に水くくるとは”　在原業平朝臣
(Even in such an ancient age of Gods, they had never heard the beauty of the Tatsuta River tinted with the picturesque red)
#69th Poem: “嵐ふく三室の山のもみじ葉は龍田の川の錦なりけり”　　能因法師
(After a storm, the maple leaves flown from Mt. Mimuro have tinted the Tatuta River so beautifully)

4 servings

800 g (1+3/4 pounds) chicken pieces with bones in serving size ( tori no honetsuki butsu giri)　
　　or 600g (1+1/3 pounds) boneless cut up chicken
1 tablespoon ginger juice (ginger root, peeled, grated, and squeezed (shoga)
4 tablespoons mirin (mirin)
5 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce (shoyu)
4 small white turnips (kabu), peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chili Pickling Marinade:
1 dried chili pepper ( aka-togarashi), seeded and chopped into rings
1+1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar ( kome-su)

Cornstarch to dredge the chicken
Vegetable oil for deep-frying, such as sesame, corn, canola,…
8 shiso leaves (ao-jiso) or chrysanthemum leaves, washed and wiped dry
1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the ginger juice, saké and soy sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Score the turnips crosswise, closely and deeply, but do not cut right through to the base. Sprinkle with the salt and allow them to stand until the brine runs.
3. Mix the ingredients for the chili pickling marinade and marinate the turnips in it until they are wilted.
4. Dredge the chicken pieces thoroughly with cornstarch. Allow them to stand for 2 to 3 minutes so that the starch sticks nicely to the chicken.
5. Heat the oil to 180°C (356°F) and fry the chicken pieces over medium heat until the surface is crispy and the bones stick out. Drain off the oil.
6. Place the fried chicken in half space of a serving plate. Line with the remaining space of the plate with shiso leaves. Place the turnips on them, so that they look like chrysanthemum flowers. Serve immediately.


Keiko　Hayashi