Crispy Nori Chicken and 300

Crispy nori chicken on Flickr by beFOODled.

A few weeks ago, we had our friends Calimocho and a newly-coiffed Squeaky - who has insisted on some star exposure in beFOODled - over for a Japanese-themed evening. The plan was to eat tasty Japanese food and then rent an anime movie, but in actual fact, we finished up in Greece that night, as we all saw 300. A little aside before the food details: I really liked this movie, for the simple reason that it is full of hot abs! (Unfortunately they were all painted-on virtu-abs. Sigh.) Squeaky's favourite line: "THIS IS SPARTA!" 300 has revived my interest in classical civilizations and has led to my discovery of the ROME miniseries, to which I am obsessively addicted. Abs aside, the cinemetography in 300 was great - comic colours all washed over in sepia. I was not expecting an historically accurate epic documentary, so I wasn't disappointed. But S made an intelligent observation that some of the phrases uttered, such as "Freedom doesn't come for free" were obviously pro-Republican propaganda just when the Bush Administration needed it the most. I've since read that the Iranians are angry about the way 300 portrays the Persians. All good points, but I liked it all the same.

And now back to Japan. To start, we had instant miso soup, and for the main course, some crispy nori chicken. I served this with rice bowls, honey-soy carrots and a mint and zucchini salad.

Crispy Nori Chicken
Adapted from Jane Lawson's Yoshoku
Serves 4

1 kg chicken thighs, cut into two-bite pieces
vegetable oil for frying (only a thin layer as this is not a deep-fried dish)
sesame oil

Marinade for chicken:
60 ml soy sauce
60 ml mirin
1 Tbsp sake
2 tsp grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Dusting mixture:
1/2 C corn starch
2 Tbsp crushed nori flakes
1/8 tsp Japanese pepper

Marinate the chicken pieces for an hour. Fill a large saucepan with a thin layer - on the order of millimetres - of vegetable oil and add about 80 ml of sesame oil. Heat to 180 C (350 F).

Lightly coat the chicken pieces in the starch mixture. Fry in batches for 6-7 minutes until golden. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Serve with lemon wedges.