{"id":163573,"title":"Authentic Zangi \u2014 Hokkaido Fried Chicken","modified":"2026-08-17T19:43:01+02:00","plain":"Hokkaido fried chicken : chicken thighs marinated in soy, ginger and garlic, coated with egg, flour and potato starch, then fried twice.\n\n\n\nYou step out of an izakaya with the smell of fried ginger on your fingers and the urge to go back the very next day. Zangi captures that moment: a brown, craggy crust that crackles loudly, a rush of soy sauce and garlic rising all at once, and underneath, a thigh still brimming with juices. \n\n\n\nAt first glance, it looks like karaage. One bite is enough to understand that Hokkaido has its own take on fried chicken.\n\n\n\nAnother Japanese fried chicken, famichiki is best eaten standing outside the konbini\n\n\n\nWhat is zangi ?\n\n\n\nZangi is Hokkaido’s fried chicken. It starts with boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cut into large pieces and marinated in a dark mixture of soy sauce, grated ginger, garlic and sake, with a little mirin or sugar. \n\n\n\nA beaten egg often goes straight into the seasoned chicken, before the wheat flour and potato starch: the coating turns sticky, then fries up into a thick, irregular crust. Most cooks rely on a double fry: the first cooks the chicken through, the second, at a higher heat, darkens the crust and crisps it up.\n\n\n\nThe name comes from Chinese expressions referring to fried chicken, zha ji (\u70b8\u9d8f) or zha zi ji (\u70b8\u5b50\u9d8f). The explanation most often cited credits the owner of Torimatsu, a yakitori spot in Kushiro, who is said to have added an “n” (\u3093), echoing un, or luck, as a wish for prosperity for his business. \n\n\n\nOn the island, the word refers as much to the method as to the chicken: octopus, salmon, whelk and other local ingredients all go through the same soy-ginger-garlic trio.\n\n\n\nOn the same izakaya table, beautifully glazed tsukune\n\n\n\nBorn in the izakayas of Kushiro\n\n\n\nThe story begins in postwar Hokkaido, when cheap broiler chicken became easy to find and cooks started moving beyond traditional yakitori. Around 1960, in Kushiro’s Suehiro district, Torimatsu began cutting up whole chickens, bones and all, and frying the pieces. \n\n\n\nThe cheapest bird at the market became a hearty dish for drinkers, workers and families alike.\n\n\n\nThat first zangi was nothing like today’s deeply marinated version. The chicken was simply salted and peppered, dusted with a thin layer of potato starch, fried, then served with a dipping sauce dominated by Worcestershire sauce, livened up with black pepper, spices and oyster sauce. That sauce-first approach remains Kushiro’s signature.\n\n\n\nAs it spread to Sapporo and across the rest of the island, zangi adapted to home kitchens and bentos: bones gave way to boneless chicken thighs, and the dipping sauce found its way into the marinade. \n\n\n\nIn 1980, Kushiro gave rise to another variation at the restaurant Nanbantei: zantare, a generous portion of zangi draped in a punchy tare of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, whose acidity cuts through the richness. It even earned the local team a Silver Grand Prix at the 2015 B-1 Grand Prix.\n\n\n\nAnother Japanese fried favorite to get right the first time : korokke\n\n\n\nThe key ingredients in zangi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBoneless, skin-on chicken thighs are the foundation. The fat and collagen keep the meat juicy, while the skin adds flavor and twists as it fries, creating those craggy edges. \n\n\n\nThe beaten egg helps the coating cling and locks moisture against the meat. Wheat flour gives the crust structure and helps it brown, while potato starch delivers the irregular crispness that stays crunchy longer.\n\n\n\nThe marinade starts with soy sauce, salty and packed with umami, loosened with cooking sake, which mellows the chicken and carries the aromatics into the meat. Mirin or sugar rounds out the saltiness and deepens the color to a dark brown. Fresh grated ginger and garlic bring the aroma, white or black pepper stands up to the coating, and a dash of sesame oil adds the toasted note of family recipes.\n\n\n\nTo round out the spread, a batch of gyoza\n\n\n\nMenmi is Hokkaido’s signature touch. This five-times-concentrated tsuyu from Kikkoman, sold only on the island, brings the depth of five different dashi to the marinade: scallop, bonito, mackerel, sardine and kombu. \n\n\n\nElsewhere, a three-times-concentrated mentsuyu with a splash of dark soy sauce works just fine. Then there’s the finishing sauce, which changes everything depending on the city: Worcestershire in Kushiro, or a tare of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar for zantare.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic Zangi - Hokkaido-Style Fried Chicken\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t500 g boneless chicken thighs (skin-on)Brine600 mL water6 g salt (for the brine)Marinade and coating2 teaspoons light soy sauce2 teaspoons sake1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (substitute regular sake if needed)0.5 teaspoon salt0.5 teaspoon MSG (flavor enhancer)0.5 teaspoon white pepper (ground)1 teaspoon sugar1 teaspoon ginger (grated)1 egg1 teaspoon flour75 g potato starch (plus extra if needed before frying)1 teaspoon sesame oil1 teaspoon neutral oilfrying oil (as needed)Zangi Sauce (for about 20 pieces)40 g Japanese leek (or regular leek)7 tablespoons rice vinegar3 tablespoons light soy sauce3 tablespoons sugar1.5 teaspoons ginger (grated)1 teaspoon sesame oil1 pinch salt1 pinch MSG (flavor enhancer)1 pinch black pepper\t\n\t\n\t\tBrine and marinadeCut the chicken thighs into 8 pieces.Mix the water and brining salt in a bowl.Submerge the chicken in the brine for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.Add the soy sauce, sake, and Shaoxing wine, then massage them into the chicken to coat evenly.Add the salt, MSG, sugar, and white pepper, then massage again.Add the egg and grated ginger, then massage until fully absorbed.Add the flour and potato starch, then massage until every piece is evenly coated.Add the sesame oil and neutral oil, then massage one last time. Transfer to a bag and refrigerate overnight.FryingTake out the chicken. If any liquid has collected, add a little more starch to coat it again.Heat the frying oil to 160-170 \u00b0C. Open up the pieces and stretch the skin without tearing it, then lower the chicken into the oil.Fry for about 1 minute 30 seconds, removing the pieces as soon as they turn golden. Let them rest on a rack for 30 seconds to 1 minute.Increase the heat and bring the oil to 180 \u00b0C. Return the chicken to the oil and fry for about 3 minutes. Drain and serve immediately with the zangi sauce.Zangi sauceThinly slice the leek, then mix it with the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, salt, black pepper, MSG, sesame oil, and grated ginger.\t\n\t\n\t\t\nThe pieces may look large at first, but they shrink noticeably during frying.\nAdding the ginger peel and the green tops of the leeks to the salted water lightly perfumes the meat and softens any strong aromas.\nTemperature cue for the first fry: small bubbles should form at the tips of chopsticks dipped into the oil.\nSpreading the pieces out and stretching the skin before lowering them into the oil shortens the cooking time and makes the skin even crispier.\nYou can substitute regular sake for Shaoxing wine.\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principalJaponaise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}