The flavour of my Fried Chicken Tenders Wrapped in Nori is similar to Karaage Chicken, but a strip of yakinori (roasted seaweed) is wrapped around each piece of chicken. It has a hint of flavour from the sea. See the video.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 300g/0.7lb chicken tenderloin (tendon removed, note 1)
- 12+/- strips yaki nori (note 2)
- 2-2½ tbsp corn flour/cornstarch
- Oil to shallow fry
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise (note 3)
- 1/4 tsp ginger juice (squeeze juice out of grated ginger)
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Diagonally slice each chicken tenderloin into 3 strips (note 4), then put them into a bowl.
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Add all the Marinade ingredients to the bowl and mix well ensuring that the marinade coats each chicken piece. Marinate for 15 minutes.
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Taking one piece of marinated chicken at a time, wrap a strip of yaki nori around the middle of piece of chicken.
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Coat each piece of chicken with corn flour/cornstarch. Rolling the chicken piece on the corn flour/cornstarch makes it easy.
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Fill a frying pan with oil to 1-1.5cm/⅜-⅝" deep (note 5) and heat to 160°C/320°F (note 6).
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Put the chicken pieces in the oil and cook for about 1.5 minutes. Turn them over and cook for 1-1.5 minutes. (note 7)
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Transfer the chicken pieces to a tray with a rack or a tray lined with kitchen paper.
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Bring the temperature of the oil up to 190°C/374°F (note 6).
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Return the chicken pieces to the oil and cook for about 30-40 seconds. Turn the chicken pieces over after 15-20 seconds (note 8). The chicken should be golden brown. (note 7)
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Transfer the chicken to the tray. Serve while hot.
1. Please see my post Marinated Chicken Tenderloin, which explains how to remove the tendon out of chicken tenderloin. I used 4 chicken tenderloins that weighed 305g/0.7lb.
2. You will need the same number of yakinori strips as the number of chicken pieces. I cut each tenderloin into 3, making 12 chicken pieces in total. So, I made 12 yakinori strips from 1 sheet of yaki nori.
Please see the photo in the post, which shows how I cut a sheet into 12 thin strips.
3. I used kewpie mayonnaise as it has less acidity compared to Western-style mayonnaise. Mayonnaise prevents the chicken from getting dry when cooked, resulting in soft and tender flesh. You can omit mayonnaise if you prefer.
4. If your chicken tenderloin is large, you may need to cut it into 4 pieces. My chicken strips were about 2.5cm/1" wide and the length was anywhere between 7cm/2¾" and 10cm/4". They don’t have to be the same size, but they look better if the size of the chicken pieces are similar.
5. You only need to submerge the chicken pieces halfway. If your chicken pieces are thin, you may need only 1cm/⅜" deep of oil. If they are thicker, 1.5cm deep of oil will be better.
6. I used a thermometer as well, but you can check the approximate temperature by putting a thick bamboo stick upright in the oil, as demonstrated in the video. If tiny bubbles around the bamboo stick are coming up gently, it is about 160°C/320°F. If many bubbles around the bamboo stick are coming up rapidly, the oil is about 190°C/374°F.
7. If your frying pan is small, you can do this in two batches.
8. If you are putting the chicken pieces in the oil one by one, by the time you put the last chicken piece in the oil, you will need to turn the first chicken piece over.
9. Nutrition per serving. It assumes that the vegetable oil absorbed into the fried chicken is about 8% of the weight of the chicken.
serving: 195g calories: 374kcal fat: 21g (27%) saturated fat: 2.5g (13%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 5.9g monounsaturated fat: 11g cholesterol: 112mg (37%) sodium: 552mg (24%) carbohydrates: 6.6g (2%) dietary fibre: 0.6g (2%) sugar: 0.1g protein: 35g vitamin D: 0mcg (0%) calcium: 13mg (1%) iron: 0.9mg (5%) potassium: 571mg (12%)