Chicken Nanban With Tartar Sauce
Japanese fried chicken fillets marinated in sweet-sour sauce and served with tartar sauce made with crushed hard-boiled eggs.Unlike most fried chicken recipes that start with marinating, chicken nanban fillets are marinated after frying. Strange? Maybe, but the result is delicious.

Ingredients
For the tartar sauce
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 tablespoons pickle relish drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped onion squeezed
- ¼ cup Japanese mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lime lemon or lime juice, or to taste
For the marinade
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)
- salt to taste
To complete the dish
- 1 whole chicken breast deboned (or two chicken breast fillets) and cut into bite-size pieces
- salt and pepper
- 2 to 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 ½ cooking oil
- toasted sesame seeds to garnish
- thinly sliced scallions to garnish
Instructions
Make the tartar sauce
- Shell the eggs and crush using the back of a fork.
- Mix the eggs with the rest of the ingredients for the tartar sauce.
- Set aside.
Cook the marinade
- Boil together the ingredients for the marinade until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a shallow bowl and cool.
Cook the chicken
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with the corn starch.
- Heat the cooking oil and fry the chicken, in batches, until golden brown and cooked through, about two to three minutes per side depending on the thickness.
Marinate the chicken
- Place the cooked chicken in the marinade in a single layer. Allow to soak for three minutes per side.
Assemble the chicken nanban
- Arrange the chicken pieces on a plate (leave the excess marinade behind) and spoon the tartar sauce beside them.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and scallions before serving.
Video
Notes
This is an updated version of a recipe originally published in my other blog in September 23, 2013.
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