Chicken Karaage, Rice & Crunchy Cabbage

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 5)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (30 ml)
• 15 g fresh ginger + 2 garlic cloves
• 30 g cornflour
• 2 tsp rapeseed oil
• 120 g Japanese short-grain rice (sushi rice)
• 250 g white cabbage (about ¼ cabbage)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise (15 g) + 3 tbsp 2% fat Greek yoghurt (60 g)
• 1 lemon (½ for the sauce, ½ cut into wedges for serving)
• 1 spring onion
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Air fryer
• Saucepan with lid
• 2 mixing bowls
• Fine grater
• Pastry brush
• Very sharp knife

📖 Steps

1. Cut the chicken thighs into 4 to 5 cm pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine them with the soy sauce, the finely grated ginger and garlic and a pinch of pepper. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 20 min, or up to overnight.
2. While it marinates, rinse the rice in a sieve, rubbing it between your hands until the water runs almost clear. Cook it covered with 160 ml water: bring to the boil, cook for 12 min over a very low heat, then leave to rest off the heat for 10 min without lifting the lid.
3. Shred the cabbage as finely as possible into 1 to 2 mm strips with a very sharp knife. Soak it for 10 min in a bowl of ice-cold water so it becomes really crisp, then drain and dry it thoroughly.
4. Mix the mayonnaise, Greek yoghurt and the zest and juice of half a lemon, then chill. Cut the other lemon half into wedges and finely chop the spring onion.
5. Preheat the air fryer to 200 °C. Drain the chicken, then coat each piece in cornflour, pressing so it sticks. Wait 2 to 3 min for the cornflour to absorb moisture: without this pause, powdery white patches remain after cooking.
6. Oil the basket, arrange the pieces in it without them touching and brush with the rest of the oil, paying particular attention to any areas that are still white. Cook for 14 min at 200 °C, turning halfway through, until golden and crisp. In the oven: 22 min at 220 °C on a wire rack.
7. Check it is cooked by cutting open the largest piece: the meat should be opaque right through to the centre, with no trace of pink. Dress the cabbage with the rice vinegar and a pinch of salt just before serving so it stays crunchy.
8. Divide the rice between the plates, add a mound of cabbage and the piping-hot chicken pieces. Scatter over the spring onion and serve with the lemon mayonnaise and the lemon wedges to squeeze over the chicken.