Chicken Nanban

Another great bento dish from the cooking with dog youtube channel.   I made this both for dinner and lunch the next day, and it was probably the best bento lunch I ever had.  Try this bitch out now.


ingredients:
for 1 serving
1.  2 chicken thighs
2.  salt and pepper
3.  1 tsp sake
4.  1 egg
5.  1/2 cup of all purpose flour
6.  vegetable oil for frying
7.  1 TBL of finely chopped parsley for garnish

Nanban Sauce
8.  1 TBL sugar
9.  1 TBL soy sauce
10.  2 tsp vinegar
11.  1/8 tsp cayenne or 1/4 dried red chili pepper with seeds removed

Tartar Sauce
12.  1 hard boiled egg
13.  1 TBL finely diced onion
14.  1 TBL finely diced pickle
15.  1/4 cup mayonnaise
16.  1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
17.  1 tsp of milk
18.  1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper


recipe:
1.  Hard boil 1 egg, peel it, then add it into a small bowl.  Roughly cut it up into 8-10 slices inside the bowl.
2.  To the sliced egg add all the other ingredients for the tartar sauce, mix well, making sure to break up the egg as small as possible, then taste and adjust.
note: - You want the tartar sauce to have just a subtle touch of sourness to it.  Unlike tartar sauce for seafood, this can be more on the savory, eggy side.  But add more vinegar if you feel it needs it.
note: - You want the tartar sauce to be slightly thicker than normal tartar sauce since it will be sitting on hot chicken, but adjust the consistency with milk if you feel it needs it.
3.  Add salt and pepper if you feel it needs it (I normally never add salt to tartar sauce because the mayonnaise is already pretty salty).  Cover and place into refrigerator.
4.  Combine all the ingredients for the nanban sauce into a small bowl, mix well, then taste.  The sauce should taste sweet, but not too sweet.  There should be zero, harsh saltiness to it and it should have just the slightest bit of sourness and a slight kick from the spice.  Adjust to achieve this flavor.
5.  Discard skin from the chicken thighs, cut the meat off of the bone, making sure to cut off any stray cartilage from the flesh.  Cut the chicken into large chunks, 1 1/2 - 2".  Error on the side of too big.  If cutting one chunk of chicken would make the halves smaller than 1 1/2", don't cut it and just fry the entire large chunk.
6.  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken chunks.  Transfer chicken to a bowl, pour on 1 tsp sake, and mix the chicken well.
7.  Using a cast iron skillet or frying pan, add oil so that it goes 1/2" up the sides.  Heat over medium high heat for 5 minutes.
8.  Meanwhile add 1/2 cup of flour to a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper and mix.  In another bowl, thoroughly beat 1 egg.
9.  After the oil has come up to 340 degrees farenheight, add chicken pieces to the flour and coat both sides.  Shake off any excess, then dip it into egg.  Coat both sides with egg, shake off any excess, then gently place into the oil.  If you can fit all the chicken at once, do so.  If not, fry in 2 batches.
10.  Fry each side for about 3-5 minutes each, until it achieves a dark, golden brown color.  To check, carefully touch the top of the crust with your finger.  It should feel hard and crusty, not soft.  If it still feels soft, that side needs to fry a few more minutes.  Flip over pieces several times until both sides feel hard and crusty.
11.  Take out chicken and drain.  Dip each side of the chicken into the nanban sauce for a few seconds per side, then place onto a plate.  You don't need to soak up much sauce and do not need to pour it over the chicken.
12.  Pour a GENEROUS amount of tartar sauce over the chicken.  Do not skimp.  Many times, too much sauce can overpower a dish.  This is not really one of those cases.  Put a lot of tartar sauce.
13.  Garnish with chopped parsley.
note: - The extra naban and tartar sauce goes great over fresh side vegetables.  The tartar sauce over fresh cauliflower is great.  And the naban sauce over fresh greens and cherry tomatoes is good as well.