‘Kara-age-Ko’ is a seasoned flour used for, most commonly, fried chicken in Japan. ‘Kara-age Chicken’ can be made in many different ways and I have my own recipe, but my mother used to use a store-bought ‘Kara-age-Ko’ when she prepared our bento lunch in the morning. It was the quickest way to make fried chicken, I suppose. She used it for frying other food such as mushrooms and vegetables. I don’t buy ‘Kara-age-Ko’ because it is easy to make.
How to use it? It is simple. Just lightly coat pieces of meat, seafood, mushrooms or vegetables with this seasoned flour, and fry in the oil. Here are two suggestions to use it, ‘Fried Squid’ and ‘Fried Shimeji’.
Ingredients
2 tablespoon Plain Flour / Self-Raising Flour 2 tablespoon Potato Starch Flour 1 teaspoon Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder / Chicken Stock Powder 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder 1/2 teaspoon Salt 1/4 teaspoon Sugar 1 teaspoon Spices of your choice *Pepper, Chinese Five Spice, Chilli, Allspice, Dry Mustard, Paprika, Ground Ginger, Onion Powder, Dried Herbs, etc. This time, I used 1/2 tsp Finely Ground Pepper, 1/4 tsp Five Spice and 1/4 tsp Ground Chilli.
Method
To make the seasoned flour, combine all ingredients.
‘Fried Squid’ Clean a Squid, slice the body into 7 to 8mm rings, and cut large tentacles into smaller pieces. Coat squid rings and tentacles with the seasoned flour thoroughly. Shake off any excess flour. Working in batches, deep-fry until golden and crispy. It won’t take long. Drain on paper towel. Serve immediately.
‘Fried Shimeji’ Trim the bottom of Shimeji and tear into smaller pieces. Coat with the seasoned flour thoroughly. Shake off any excess flour. Working in batches, deep-fry until golden. It won’t take long. Drain on paper towel. Serve immediately.
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