Pan-Fried Chicken with Shio Kombu 香煎塩昆布雞腿肉

It's nice to see that shio kombu has become one of the regulars at my local grocery stores. Not the traditional markets, but at least 90% of the time you can find shio kombu sold at the supermarket inside a department store.

So I guess it's reasonable to think that more and more households in Taiwan are getting familiar with such ingredient. Shio kombu, a Japanese traditional salted kelp sold as small threads. You can serve as it is, or eat along with rice as a side, or use as flavoring agent. It's salty, savory, and packed with umami, so there're endless possibilities on how to utilize such versatile ingredient. Today, we're going to infuse shio kombu as one of the marinade components for chicken.

Pan-fried chicken with shio kombu 香煎塩昆布雞腿肉 - 

Ingredients?

• 340 grams deboned skin-on chicken leg 
• 3 to 4 tablespoons light-tasting cooking oil
• Some corn starch

Marinade - 

• 3 tablespoons shio kombu
• 1 teaspoon mirin
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

How?

Slice the deboned chicken leg to bite size pieces.

Mix all the ingredients under the "marinade" section in a bowl. Transfer the chicken over and massage the meat with the marinade. Let it sit aside in cool place for about 30 minutes.

When time's up, prepare a plate with some depth. Fill the plate with corn starch. Dip the chicken with the corn starch. Make sure all sides have been coated with it and try to include some shio kombu too. Set aside and continue to work on the rest of the chicken.

Use a non-stick pan and drizzle 3 to 4 tablespoons of light tasting oil, rice bran oil can be one of the options. Turn to medium high heat and wait till the oil gets warm.

Add in chicken pieces one by one, and try not to move them around at first. Wait till the bottom has been seared and set then it's ok to move them around. Once the bottom gets a nice golden color, flip and sear the other side.

Again, sear till slightly golden and fully cooked-through. Transfer the chicken to a plate or a bowl lined with paper towel. The paper towel will help absorbing excess oil.

Let the meat rest for a minute, then transfer to the final serving plate.

Have you noticed that I didn't use any salt or soy sauce for the marinade? That's because the shio kombu is already salty enough, but if you prefer a heavier taste, I suppose incorporating 1 to 2 teaspoons of soy sauce to the marinade should be fine.  

Other recipes using shio kombu:

• Canned tuna cold dish with bean sprouts and shio kombu
• Plum shio kombu pickled pak choi stems and cucumbers (淡漬梅塩昆布小白菜梗)