Chicken Nanban Made with Chicken Breast That "Surpasses the Ultimate," with Tartar Sauce Made from Iwashita's Pickled Young Ginger

The president of Iwashita Foods, who also appeared in the previous video, was present for the recording. Last time, the president cooked dishes such as meat rolls using the young ginger, while Ryuji drank and did the eating. This time, saying that "just having someone cook for me would be a disgrace to the title of cooking researcher," Ryuji makes a recipe that wouldn't work without the young ginger.

Chicken nanban is generally made with thigh meat, but this time chicken breast is used. As reasons, Ryuji cited coming to prefer lighter dishes with age, and the view that because tartar sauce contains a lot of fat, breast meat is healthier and tastier. Ryuji added that it is also delicious made with thigh. Ryuji has recently been focusing on breast meat recipes and said that eating breast meat in a light way is a personal trend at the moment.

The recipe uses two chicken breasts (serves two); if making it with one, halve all the ingredients.

In the earlier "Ultimate Chicken Nanban," the tartar sauce used sweet pickles. However, some supermarkets don't carry sweet pickles. Iwashita's young ginger, on the other hand, can be found at almost any supermarket, Ryuji explained. The flavor and taste of the young ginger, with its restrained sweetness, go well with tartar sauce, Ryuji said.

According to Ryuji, Iwashita's young ginger uses ginger from Taiwan and has a distinctive aroma and flavor. Although there are many similar pickled ginger products, Ryuji said it has a taste you can only get from Iwashita's young ginger and encouraged viewers to compare them.

Ryuji had previously made tartar sauce using fried eggs, but since it is also delicious made in the microwave, this time the microwave is used. Crack two eggs into a heatproof container, mix, cover with a lid, and heat. As a guide, about 1 minute 20 seconds for one egg, or about 2 minutes for two. With a lid on, it's fine even if the eggs burst, Ryuji said.

Meanwhile, chop 50g of Iwashita's young ginger. 50g is roughly one piece of the young ginger. Ryuji put the ginger in a chopper to mince it, then put the cooked eggs into the same chopper and chopped them together. This saves the trouble of breaking up the eggs separately. Removing the blade turns the chopper container into a bowl, which also cuts down on washing up. Ryuji said that looking back at the previous chicken nanban recipe, the technique seemed clumsy, and that it could now be done much faster, asking viewers to see this step as "proof of growth."

The seasonings are as follows.

• Mayonnaise 90g (one with little acidity)
• Ketchup 15g
• Sugar 2 pinches
• Salt 2 pinches
• Umami seasoning 4 shakes

Choose a mayonnaise with mild acidity. Many other mayonnaises are quite sour, and this time acidity is added by the young ginger. Because the young ginger has a strong flavor, sugar is added for sweetness. The umami seasoning was added after mixing, when Ryuji felt "something was missing"; its role is to harmonize the overall umami and bring the flavors together, Ryuji said.

Typical tartar sauce includes onion and the like, but none is added this time, because the young ginger provides a crisp texture.

Make cuts in about three directions in the thick parts of the breast, open them up, and make the meat thinner. Cover with plastic wrap and pound with something like a sake bottle to break down the fibers and make it tender. You can make it without pounding, but pounding gives a tender result, Ryuji said.

Cut the meat in half down the middle, then cut each half into five pieces, for a total of ten. It is delicious with or without the skin, Ryuji said.

Put the meat in a bowl, add a generous amount of salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of sake, mix, and coat with 8 tablespoons of potato starch. Traditional chicken nanban is dusted with flour, dipped in egg, and fried, but this time potato starch is used to give a crispy coating like karaage. Ryuji admits this is a "seriously unorthodox" chicken nanban. The explanation is that an orthodox chicken nanban recipe has already been released, so it isn't being done this time, and Ryuji wanted a crispy coating to make the most of the young ginger tartar sauce.

No marinating is needed, Ryuji said. The thinking is that because the sweet vinegar sauce poured on later is delicious, minimal seasoning with just salt and pepper is enough.

Ryuji used Double Half frying oil, but said rice bran oil and the like are also light and delicious. Since it's two servings, a large frying pan is used, with about 1cm of oil from the bottom of the pan, over medium-high heat.

Right before frying, one more step is added. Add 1 tablespoon of sake to the seasoned chicken so the potato starch is soaked through, then coat with another 2 tablespoons of potato starch. This creates a two-layer coating that turns out crunchy when fried. It's tastiest when the starch covers everything and is a little clumpy, Ryuji explained.

Check the oil temperature by inserting wooden chopsticks. If the bubbles are small, it's not ready yet; when bubbles start fizzing up, it's ready for frying.

Fry over fairly high heat. Because no soy sauce is used, the fried color will be pale. Chicken becomes tough and loses its flavor if overfried, so remove the pieces in the order they went in, once they've browned all over. Because they're coated in potato starch, they won't get tough too quickly, Ryuji said.

The fried coating was crunchy. Ryuji joked, "If I called this chicken nanban to people from Miyazaki, they'd get mad at me," while saying that even if it's unorthodox, what matters is that it tastes good. Ryuji also said that even with a heavy, high-calorie dish, adding the lightness and freshness of the young ginger enriches the flavor.

The ingredients for the sweet vinegar sauce are 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 4 shakes of umami seasoning, and 4 tablespoons of vinegar. Adding umami seasoning brings everything together, Ryuji said. Reduce this over high heat.

Judge how far it has reduced by the way it bubbles. If it isn't reduced enough, the sauce will be watery; if it's reduced too much, it will set hard. Wait until it bubbles steadily and thickens. Ryuji brought it to a full boil once to check, then turned off the heat when the bubbles no longer disappeared even when the pan was shaken.

Ryuji says chicken nanban is basically dipped in the sauce rather than having sauce poured on afterward. However, soaking it completely will lose the crunch, so dip just one side lightly and place it on the plate. If that's a hassle, you can plate everything and then pour the sweet vinegar sauce over it. Pour any remaining sauce over the top, add the young ginger tartar sauce, and sprinkle with dried parsley. Adding vegetables on the side makes it look like something from a restaurant, Ryuji said.

Regular chicken nanban has an egg coating, so it isn't crispy, but Ryuji believes tartar sauce goes well with something crispy like karaage, and this method is based on that idea.

With the finished dish in front of them, the two toasted with Iwashita young ginger sours. Ryuji called it "the best chicken nanban among my recipes," and recalled being surprised when testing it to feel that it surpassed the previous recipe.

The president said right away, "This is delicious" and "The young ginger really comes through." Ryuji said they made the tartar sauce with only the young ginger and no onion, and was surprised at how good it tasted. Ryuji also mentioned liking the crisp bite of the young ginger and how the sweet vinegar sauce envelops everything. The president remarked that the crispy coating soaks up the sweet vinegar sauce well and that they liked the combination of sweet vinegar sauce and tartar sauce.

When the president said they'd like to serve this tartar sauce at their own company too, Ryuji replied that if mincing is a concern, chopping a larger batch at once works fine.

Ryuji explained again that sweet pickles are of course delicious too, but the young ginger is itself ginger, and its freshness goes well with freshly fried chicken. The president described it as "light, crispy, and wonderful," and when asked about appearing together again following the previous video, answered, "I thought, that's Ryuji for you."

Finally, Ryuji wrapped up the video by saying that while there are similar products, viewers should buy Iwashita's young ginger to make the tartar sauce, and since it's easy, they should definitely try making this chicken nanban.