Chicken Nanban Recipe

Chicken Nanban is deep-fried chicken with tartar sauce, a dish from Miyazaki prefecture in Kyusyu, the southern big island of Japan.  The chicken is lightly battered and fried, then dipped in sweet and sour sauce just like Nanbanzuke, marinaded fried fish with vegetables.  The fried chicken can be eaten just by itself, but topping with tartar sauce makes it Chicken Nanban.  It may not sound like the healthiest Japanese food, but it is a popular kind of lunch dish for many at shops and cafeterias in business areas.

They say that Chicken Nanban was first developed for employees in restaurant in Miyazaki.  That then became a menu item at the restaurants over 50 years ago.  Other restaurants in Kyusyu started making it too, and it was good enough to spread to the rest of Japan. Today, everybody knows about it.

“Nanban” means “foreign,” specifically indicating Portugal and Spain, coming from a period back in the 17th century when Japan often traded with these countries.  During this period, new types and variations of cooking methods such as deep frying and marinading, and ingredients like hot pepper and onions, were introduced to Japan.  When food is deep-fried and marinaded in vinegar base sauce, the dish is often time called “something Nanban,” just like Chicken Nanban.  The sweet and sour sauce is absorbed in the batter coating the chicken, and it is absolutely delicious.  Chicken breast is a popular choice for the dish lot of times.  Chicken thighs are also OK to use, but the dish already contains enough fat, so the thighs might be overdoing it.

The Tartar sauce poured over the chicken varies from restaurant to restaurant, home to home.  A local or personal touch. Our version has boiled eggs, onion, and sour pickles like cornichons (or gherkins) in the sauce.  Japanese tangy mayo combine all the ingredients and flavors together to make a sinful but tasty sauce.  If you don’t have Japanese mayo on hand, add extra lemon juice and some salt to regular American mayonnaise.

If you have young people in your family, they will love this hearty, fulfilling chicken dish.  Try this Japanese comfort food for your next dinner!

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5 from 1 vote

Chicken Nanban Recipe

Japanese deep-fried chicken with tartar sauce

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: chicken

Servings: 2 servings

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Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 egg beaten
• deep-frying oil

Tartar Sauce

• 1 boiled egg chopped
• 2 Tbsp onion finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp pickles cornichons, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Japanese mayonnaise
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Make tartar sauce in advance. Mix all the tartar sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside in the refrigerator.
• In a small pot, heat soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar together until the sugar has completely dissolved, forming a vinegar sauce. Pour out in a shallow dish (large enough for dipping the chicken later). Set the vinegar sauce aside.
• Butterfly chicken breasts, and pound with a meat mallet to flatten and thin to about 1/2″ (1 cm). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour, then dip in beaten egg.
• Heat deep-frying oil to 350 F (180 C). Fry chicken until golden brown and cooked through.
• Dip fried chicken immediately in the vinegar sauce, to cover both sides. Cut chicken into bite size pieces or slices. Serve with the tartar sauce.

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