Lindsi's World-Famous Mochiko Chicken
Now that I have her recipe and have successfully recreated the delight that is her mochiko chicken, I can finally discontinue my sham of a friendship with her. I kid about being her friend just for this recipe, because it is that good.
We prepped this on Tuesday night and ate it on Wednesday night. The prep time was about 10 minutes to cut up the boneless chicken thighs to the right size, another 5 minutes to throw the marinade together, and 5 minutes to clean up the cutting board and knife. I put the marinade together in a gallon zip-lock bag, keeping post-cleaning down to a minimum and sanitation to a maximum. We let it sit overnight in the fridge, per Lindsi's instructions.
The next morning, Seppo set the timer on the rice cooker to finish cooking by 7pm, a brilliant move on his part. Deep-frying the chicken pieces took about 30 minutes in a 12" skillet, in something like 4 or 5 batches, so each batch was pretty fast. It was hard not to snack too much when the hot little pieces came out. With some salad, we were eating within 45 minutes of coming home. Seppo's friend Dave came over for dinner, and he liked it so much that he asked for the recipe right away. I used my GoodLink-enabled Treo 600 send it to him immediately before I forgot. Heh.
The marinade forms a very very light batter on the surface of the chicken, so it is slightly crispy, but not overwhelmingly so. It's not a traditional fried chicken texture or taste. The predomininant flavor notes are soy sauce and sugar, but overall flavor is not harshly salty or sickly sweet in any way at all. It's all very subtle, but addictively tasty. The worst part of it is that the pieces are deceptively small, so you can easily pop down a dozen without realizing how much you've eaten. The best part of it is that everytime I eat it, I think of Lindsi and the happy times we have had and continue to have together. I'm really glad she's in my life.
Thanks, Lindsi!
Addendum: It looks like the exact recipe that Lindsi gave me is available on the web; it was the first one I found when I googled "mochiko chicken", so I think it's ok to give out. Here it is:
2 lbs. chicken (thighs or breasts) cut into bite sized morsels
4 Tbsp. mochiko flour
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 beaten eggs
2 cloves minced garlic
oil for frying
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the oil) and add in chicken. Mix well and marinate chicken overnight. Fry marinated chicken in oil until golden-brown. Drain oil from chiken on paper towels and newspaper. Eat!
Lindsi advises all mortals to double the recipe because you will want leftovers. I should have listened to her. :D
We prepped this on Tuesday night and ate it on Wednesday night. The prep time was about 10 minutes to cut up the boneless chicken thighs to the right size, another 5 minutes to throw the marinade together, and 5 minutes to clean up the cutting board and knife. I put the marinade together in a gallon zip-lock bag, keeping post-cleaning down to a minimum and sanitation to a maximum. We let it sit overnight in the fridge, per Lindsi's instructions.
The next morning, Seppo set the timer on the rice cooker to finish cooking by 7pm, a brilliant move on his part. Deep-frying the chicken pieces took about 30 minutes in a 12" skillet, in something like 4 or 5 batches, so each batch was pretty fast. It was hard not to snack too much when the hot little pieces came out. With some salad, we were eating within 45 minutes of coming home. Seppo's friend Dave came over for dinner, and he liked it so much that he asked for the recipe right away. I used my GoodLink-enabled Treo 600 send it to him immediately before I forgot. Heh.
The marinade forms a very very light batter on the surface of the chicken, so it is slightly crispy, but not overwhelmingly so. It's not a traditional fried chicken texture or taste. The predomininant flavor notes are soy sauce and sugar, but overall flavor is not harshly salty or sickly sweet in any way at all. It's all very subtle, but addictively tasty. The worst part of it is that the pieces are deceptively small, so you can easily pop down a dozen without realizing how much you've eaten. The best part of it is that everytime I eat it, I think of Lindsi and the happy times we have had and continue to have together. I'm really glad she's in my life.
Thanks, Lindsi!
Addendum: It looks like the exact recipe that Lindsi gave me is available on the web; it was the first one I found when I googled "mochiko chicken", so I think it's ok to give out. Here it is:
2 lbs. chicken (thighs or breasts) cut into bite sized morsels
4 Tbsp. mochiko flour
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 beaten eggs
2 cloves minced garlic
oil for frying
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the oil) and add in chicken. Mix well and marinate chicken overnight. Fry marinated chicken in oil until golden-brown. Drain oil from chiken on paper towels and newspaper. Eat!
Lindsi advises all mortals to double the recipe because you will want leftovers. I should have listened to her. :D
posted by ei-nyung at
11:06 AM
4 Comments:
So cough up the recipe already, it sounds dee-lish!
... er, with Lindsi's permissin of course. ;)
- Mike
I asked her and she said that it's a common recipe, and indeed, it appears to be true. So I am posting with her permission and with the knowledge that I'm not violating the recipe book's copyright. :)
Actually, I suggest that you crush the garlic, rather than mince. And yes, double the recipe. You'll thank me for it later (or maybe curse me, depending on how much you actually eat). Remember, the doubling of the recipe is for LEFTOVERS, not so you can repeatedly purge and gorge.
I prefer to mince (or put through a garlic press) because it releases more of the garlickiness into the marinade, per Alton Brown's nerdy explanation. And I loves me some garlic. :D In fact, we used more than 2 cloves anyway. Hee hee.
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