History

Zangi traces partly to Chinese karaage that arrived in Hokkaido through Chinese cooks after World War 2, and partly to a Kushiro chicken-restaurant menu (Toriyoshi, 1960) that codified the marinade. By the 1970s, zangi was the Hokkaido home-cooking standard and a Sapporo izakaya staple; today it competes with miso ramen for the Hokkaido household-food crown. Sapporo Zangi Honpo and Chinese Ryouri Hotei are the two reference shops, with Hotei's zangi-on-rice (zangi-don) the cheap-eat icon.

Common allergens: Soy, Gluten, Egg

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 4 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 600g bone-in chicken thighs, cut into 3-cm chunks
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sake
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp grated garlic
  • 2 tbsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 egg
  • 6 tbsp potato starch (katakuriko)
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • Vegetable oil for deep-frying
  • Lemon wedges to serve

Method

  1. Mix soy sauce, sake, mirin, garlic, ginger and sesame oil in a bowl. Add chicken; refrigerate 4 hours, ideally overnight.
  2. Drain chicken in a colander. Crack the egg into the marinated chicken; mix to coat.
  3. Combine potato starch and flour. Toss chicken in this mixture to coat each piece thickly.
  4. Heat oil to 160C in a heavy pot. Fry chicken in two batches, 4 minutes per batch (cooks through without colour).
  5. Remove chicken to a rack; raise oil to 190C.
  6. Return chicken to the oil; fry 1-2 minutes until golden and crisp.
  7. Drain on a rack; serve with lemon wedges.

Tip from the editors. Two-stage frying is what separates zangi from karaage. The 160-then-190 cycle gives the crisp shell with juicy interior.

Where to eat zangi (hokkaido fried chicken)

Zangi (Hokkaido Fried Chicken) in Sapporo

Sapporo Zangi Honpo ★ 4.5

Fried chicken¥susukino

Sapporo's reference zangi (Hokkaido fried chicken) counter. Set meals under 1,000 yen with free rice and cabbage refills; weekend lines run 15 minutes.

Try: Hokkaido zangi teishoku

Tip: Same set-menu price all day; the Sapporo Station branch is the queue overflow.

Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-0063, Japan

Zangi Ichiban ★ 4.0

Japanese izakaya¥sapporo-station

A Sapporo Station-area izakaya pulling chicken thigh zangi at 100 yen a piece. No appetiser cover, no service charge; cheap base for an after-work drink.

Try: 100-yen zangi

Tip: 100 yen per skewer; no service or cover charge.

Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-0004, Japan

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