About the Recipe
The story of tempura is quite well known - how the food has its origins in Portugal, (the Japanese word tempura is derived from the Portugese verb "to cook" - temparar.) Less well known is the fact that while the Japanese were busy assimilating tempura into their cooking culture, Portugese traders in the south of Japan were introducing other cooking styles, "nanbanzuke" being one of them. This recipe was provided by my friend and collaborator Yumiko Nikaido who lives in Tokyo.
Ingredients
15cm dried kelp
2cm dried chilli
50ml rice vinegar
50ml soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
50ml japanese cooking sake
1 tbsp mirin
1 onion
50g carrot
1/3 green bell pepper
500g boneless chicken thigh*
1 tbsp veg oil
a little salt
* if you prefer chicken breast, that works too
Preparation
put the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cooking sake & mirin into a small saucepan, then snip the kelp in half and add it. cut the chilli into pieces and add that too - this is your nnbanzuke marinade
bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and leave to cool a little, then remove the kelp
halve the carrot lengthways, slice widthways and jullienne
halve the pepper lengthways & jullienne
spread the vegetables in a shallow dish, pour over the marinade and set aside
flatten the chicken & pierce a few times with a fork then season with the salt
heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chicken and fry over a medium heat for 7 - 8 mins or until lightly browned
turn the chicken over and cook for a further 7 - 8 mins. make sure the chicken is cooked, then remove from the heat
add the chicken to the marinade and marinate for at least 30 mins, turning the chicken a few times to allow it to absorb more flavour
serve with bowls of white rice. you can cut the chicken into 1.5cm strips before serving if you prefer