Japanese home cooking.

I saw this post on Serious Eats (after it came across on my email) and decided to give it a try. I love kara-age at the Japanese market, I figured it wasn't that hard...
I'm not much for frying usually, too messy or I don't do it right, but figured this was something I could do in my Le Creuset with not too much effort or mess. Plus the 2 nice side dishes were a bonus. I had to resort to basmati rice instead of short grain, I had pantry bugs from somewhere... I hate tossing half used bags of pasta but that's where it always starts isn't it?
The cucumber salad & green bean salad came together very quickly while I marinated the chicken, got some rice started (and cleaned out the pantry) and got some peanut oil to temperature in my pan.

The frying actually worked out well for me! I think that as long as I don't attempt my grandma's crisco fried drumsticks, I'll do fine. I can do hot wings & now these, oh and onion rings. It's just the bigger pieces of chicken that I never get right.
Paired with some American lager (couldn't justify spending the high price on Kirin at the regular grocery!), the sides & rice, it was a perfect meal for a weeknight!