This delicious Chicken Nanban consists of fried chicken cooked in a sweet vinegar sauce and then topped with rich homemade Japanese tartar sauce. This dish was created in Miyazaki prefecture, Southern Japan and has influences from Portugal. It is now one of the most popular fried chicken dishes in Japan and you can make it from scratch in your own kitchen!
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Chicken Nanban
What is Chicken Nanban?
Chicken Nanban is a popular Western style "yoshoku" dish from Japan. Succulent chicken thigh is coated in egg and potato starch, deep fried and then coated in a tangy, sweet "nanban" sauce. Lastly, the dish is topped with a rich and creamy Japanese style tartar sauce.
You can find chicken nanban in restaurants, homes, bento boxes and convenience stores. With all these flavours and textures going on, it's easy to see why chicken nanban is such a well-loved dish in Japan!
Chicken nanban is most commonly served with shredded cabbage or salad, and rice. But it's a versatile dish, it also goes great with fries!
The Origin of Chicken Nanban
Chicken nanban is considered the soul food of "Nobeoka", a city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, the southern island of Japan.
The dish was originally created in the 1960's and was served to workers at the Western style restaurant "London". One apprentice went on to open his own restaurant called "Naochan", serving dishes that before this point, were only served to the other cooks.
Chicken Nanban became popular all over the city and travelled across Japan to large cities like Tokyo and Osaka. It came to be one of the most popular fried chicken dishes in Japan!
Nanban Sauce
What exactly is "Nanban"?
Nanban sauce comes from another popular dish called "Nanbanzuke". Nanbanzuke is a fish dish served in a sugar and rice vinegar with onions and carrots. Salmon nanbanzuke is popular, but it can be made with any fish, most commonly horse mackerel or smelt.
Nanbanzuke is served cold and is inspired by the Portuguese dish "escabeche". It is said that the Portuguese brought escabeche to Japan in the 16th century.
What does "Nanban" mean?
Nanban (南蛮) actually comes from the Chinese word "nánmán" which means "Southern Barbarians". It was a derogatory term for used in Chinese language back then to refer to non-Chinese from the south.
In Japan, nanban has a positive connotation, simply referring to high quality and desirable foreign goods, particularly from Portugal and Spain.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the 17th century is known as the "Nanban Trade" period where Portugal would trade things like guns, gold, lead and textiles for Japanese goods such as swords and lacquer ware.
There are actually a few famous Japanese dishes that originated from Portugal such as Tempura and Castella cake!
Check out our video for How to make Chicken Nanban
I hope you enjoy making this delicious Chicken Nanban from scratch with homemade tartar sauce. If you make this recipe, don't forget to leave a comment and rating to let us know how it went! You can also tag us on instagram @sudachi.recipes we love to see your creations!
Step by step recipe
Chicken Nanban (チキン南蛮)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
How to make popular Japanese Karaage style dish, Chicken Nanban (チキン南蛮). Juicy fried chicken cooked in a tangy vinegar sauce and topped with a rich and tasty, homemade Japanese tartar sauce.
Ingredients
Tartar Sauce
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- ¼ white onion
- 1 small pickled gherkin
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp ketchup
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- ½ tsp dry parsley
Nanban Sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
Chicken
- 300g chicken thigh (0.6lb) preferably skin-on
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp weak flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp potato starch or corn starch
- 2 tbsp oil (flavourless, high smoke point like vegetable oil or canola)
Instructions
- Start by finely dicing ¼ an onion, 1 small gherkin and 2 boiled eggs.
- Add them to a bowl along with the rest of the tartar sauce ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Store in the fridge until serving time.
- Take a small bowl and mix 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar together. This is your nanban sauce, set aside for later.
- Cut your chicken into bitesize pieces.
- Transfer them to a bowl and sprinkle with salt, pepper and 1 tbsp of weak flour. Mix until the chicken is coated.
- Crack an egg into the bowl and mix thoroughly with the chicken.
- Add 2 tbsp of potato starch (or corn starch) and mix until well incorporated.
- Heat a pan on medium and add 2 tbsp of oil.
- Once hot, place the chicken pieces into the pan with the skin side down. Fry for 3 minutes on each side. (Cook bigger chicken pieces for longer.)
- When the chicken is cooked through, turn the heat down to medium low and add the nanban sauce to the pan.
- Mix the chicken around in the sauce until every piece is covered.
- Once the sauce is thick and glossy, remove the pan from the heat.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate and top with your homemade tartar sauce. (Optional - add chili threads or parsley for extra garnish)
- Enjoy with a side salad and rice!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Meat
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Japanese
Keywords: chicken nanban, nanban chicken, chicken nanban recipe, how to make chicken nanban, chicken nanban origin, what is chicken nanban, Japanese nanban chicken, Japanese chicken nanban recipe
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend using chicken thigh for chicken nanban. You can also use chicken breast but it won't be as juicy as using chicken thigh.
Karaage is a method of marinating chicken and then lightly coating it with starch before deep frying. Chicken nanban is coated with egg as well so the method is different to karaage. If you're interested in karaage, check out my ultimate karaage recipe here!
In Japan, we often eat chicken nanban as a Japanese style set meal called "teishoku". This means eating our main dish with rice, miso soup and pickles.
Chicken nanban is usually served with a side salad or shredded cabbage. It also goes well with fries, it's pretty versatile!
Japanese tartar sauce is thicker and has chunks of boiled egg whites. It also contains Japanese mayonnaise which is made with rice vinegar. You can learn more about Japanese style tartar sauce here.
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