Tatsuta-Age (Deep Fried Chicken)

Here is one of my delicious Japanese-style fried chicken recipes! The chicken is seasoned in soy sauce marinade and when fried, its color becomes the tone of red leaves. This reminds people of red leaves floating on the Tatsuta-gawa River. It's the perfect recipe for the foliage season and a great recipe for parties, dinner, and lunch box.

To create the feeling of fall, I served the chicken on the dining table set with foliage-inspired decor. 

Chopstick rests shaped like Japanese maple leaves.

Paper patterned with Japanese maple leaves.

Tatsuta-Age (Deep Fried Chicken)

(Serves 6 to 8)

·      2 lbs of boneless chicken thighs

·      4 tablespoons of soy sauce

·      2 tablespoons of Japanese Sake

·      2 tablespoons of Mirin (Japanese sweet wine)

·      ¼ of lemon, freshly squeezed into juice

·      1 tablespoons of ground ginger juice

·      potato starch (corn starch)

·      vegetable oil

1.     Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.

2.     In a medium size bowl or a stainless steel tray, mix the soy sauce, Sake, Mirin, lemon juice, and ginger sauce. Add the chicken into the mixture and marinate well using hands and let it sit for more than an hour.

3.     In a deep frying pan, heat vegetable oil up to approximately 350°F (170℃ ). It is the right temperature when you see fine bubbles form from your wooden serving chopsticks when you dip them into the oil.

4.     Pour the potato starch into a Ziploc bag and thoroughly coat several pieces of marinated chicken with the potato starch.

5.     Fry the chicken in the oil until golden brown. Try not to fry too many pieces of chicken at a time. 

6.     Place the fried chicken onto a stainless steel rack and let it cool. Continue frying the rest of the chicken. 

Chic Japanese Table Setting for Halloween

Here comes one of the kid’s favorite time of the year, Halloween. So here is an idea: how about trying these chic Japanese Halloween table setting ideas to join in on the fun?

Using Japanese lanterns, mini pumpkins, black tablecloth, black napkins and black placemats gives this table a Japanese Halloween look. Japanese styled black trays were used for placemats here but any simple looking black placemats will do. My favorite part is using the Japanese lanterns for chopstick rests (hashioki). Aren’t they cool?

⭐︎Check out my blog about hashi-oki: Hashi-oki Collection (Chopstick Rest).

For the centerpiece, I placed orange and purple flowers in a black Japanese bowl made by one of my favorite Japanese ceramic artists. You don’t have to use a vase – just use anything black that looks creative. I use a flower pinholder to hold the flowers in place, but be careful as the flower pinholder is heavy and can chip your bowl.

You can carve out the mini pumpkins and place tea candles inside them to give your diner table even more of a Halloween atmosphere.

My suggestion is to keep the colors primarily black and orange, but you can add a splash of purple to give it a more sophisticated look. Try to use simple-looking items; otherwise, it might look a bit tacky.

I hope this makes you want to try something new for Halloween this year!