In the heart of Munich in Schwabing district you will find restaurant Werneckhof** by Geisel. The half German, half Japanese chef Tohru Nakamura serves you incredibly flavourful dishes from a modern cuisine with influences of German and Asian culinary culture. As there hasn’t been a great fried chicken concept in Munich, the chef saw an oppurtunity in the COVID-19 crisis and started a street food concept at the Schwabinger Wahrheit Hotel. It became a huge success. For those outside of Munich … Just try preparing Tohru’s recipe for the perfect comfort food: Miso Fried Chicken.

Recipe: Miso Fried Chicken (4 pers.)

Ingredients & preparation:

Ingredients:

• 1 corn chicken (+/- 1.2 kg)
• 500 ml buttermilk
• 100 ml sake
• 1 tsp hichimi (Japanese chilli spice mix)
• Salt, pepper
• Marinade
  • 50 ml soy sauce
  • 50 ml rice vinegar
  • 20 g brown sugar
  • 50 g light miso paste
  • 100 ml poultry stock
• 200 g wheat or rice starch
• 2 liters of neutral oil (e.g. sunflower oil)
• 150 ml toasted sesame oil
• For the presentation:
  • 1 lime
  • 50 g ginger
  • 1 tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds
  • Herbs to garnish (e.g. nasturtium, red sorrel)

Preparation:

• Disassemble the corn chicken (in the lower leg, thigh, wing, breast in 3-4 pieces – all with skin).
• Mix buttermilk with 50 ml sesame oil, sake, hichimi, salt and pepper.
• Put the pieces of the corn chicken in the fridge overnight.

For the marinade: Reduce brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, light miso paste and poultry stock to about a third of the original amount (boil down).

• Take the chicken pieces out of the buttermilk mixture, drain slightly, turn into starch.
• Heat neutral oil and 100 ml sesame oil in a pot to approximately 170 degrees (alternatively prepare in a deep fryer).
• Deep-fry the breaded chicken pieces in it until they are golden brown.
• Then grease on kitchen paper and put in a bowl.

Presentation:

Gradually add miso marinade and turn inside. Cut the ginger into fine sticks. Garnish with herbs, lime wedges, ginger sticks and toasted white and black sesame seeds and serve hot.

“I associate Fried Chicken with wonderful childhood memories that I made very early in Japan, where you can get street food on every corner. Whenever I visited my grandparents in Tokyo, I went to restaurants with, for example, ramen, fried chicken, karaage, or yakitori – grilled chicken skewers. The Shibuya district was only 15 minutes away by train. Take-away is very popular in Japan’s big cities, as there are often only small kitchens in the apartments for space reasons. This makes extensive cooking very difficult. In addition, the offer in the bars is super delicious.”

 

Read the full reportage about Werneckhof by Geisel and Tohru Nakamura here.

 

More info: https://www.schwabinger-wahrheit.de/shibuya-fried-chicken 

Recipe: Tohru Nakamura

Photography by Geisel