Pop Japan

Karaage is a kind of Japanese culinary technique wherein food is deep fried in oil. The meat, usually chicken but can also be octopus, squid, fish or vegetable, is chopped in finger-food sizes, marinated and then coated with seasoned wheat flour or potato starch mix before frying.

Based on the appearance, one may mistake karaage with tempura. Tempura is actually not just shrimp but can also be a vegetable or other kinds of seafood. The main difference between the two fried Japanese food is that the taste of the karaage relies mainly on the marinade used to flavor the meat. Tempuras are not marinated, thus the taste relies mostly on the sauce wherein the food is dipped before eating.

Photo by VirtualErn from Japanese restaurant Sushi and Sake at Drunken Fish, Miyozen, and Koryo Japanese Dining in Emeryville, California. Licensed under Creative Commons. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Tags: food, karaage, japanese culinary technique, deep fried, octopus, squid, fish, vegetable, shrimp, tempura, wheat flour, potato starch mix