Kakiage

Kakiage or kaki-age (かき揚げ, 掻き揚げ or かきあげ), a Japanese dish, is a type of tempura. It is made by batter-dipping and deep-frying a batch of ingredients such as shrimp bits (or a clump of small-sized shrimp). Kakiage may use other seafood such as small scallops, shredded vegetables or a combination of such ingredients.

Kakiage

Kaki age don (kaki age tendon)

Media: Kakiage

General description

A kaki age soba (tempura soba)

Kaki age udon

Kakiage is a type of tempura that uses small pieces of seafood, or vegetable or both.

Sometimes the main ingredients are clumps of fish or shellfish that are individually small,^[1] or chopped into small pieces.^[2]

The variety of seafood used include shrimp, mollusks like scallop,^[2] or fish,^[3][1] and can be combined with vegetables such as onion or mitsuba.^[4] The kakiage may also use vegetarian ingredients such as carrots, burdock, or onions chopped into matchsticks^[5][6] or into bits.^[1]

Preparation

The lump being fried is shaped into disks,^[a][6] and the kakiage are sometimes described as a "pancake" of sorts.^[2] It is also referred to as a type of "fritter".^[7][8]

The recipe may call for gently sliding the dollop of battered ingredients into hot oil,^[6] and since it may try to break apart, a spatula may be used to hold it into place until the shape has set.^[9] There is a modern-day implement being sold called a kakiage ring to assist in its cooking—a cylindrical, perforated sheet metal mold on a handle.^[10]

In traditional preparation, these small pieces breaking apart must be constantly "raked together" (Japanese: kakiageru (掻き上げる)).^[11]

Serving options

Kakiage may be eaten with tentsuyu or tempura dipping sauce and grated daikon radishes,^[8] or with seasoned salt,^[9] just like any other type of tempura.

It may also be served as a kakiage donburi or kakiage don, which is a rice bowl dish with a piece of kakiage placed on top of steamed rice.^[12][7] A tendon (tempura bowl) may also include a piece of kakiage among other tempura morsels.^[13]

Kakiage may top a bowl of kakesoba [ja] (hot soba in broth) or udon.^[7]

Ingredients used in Japan

The kakiage typically uses a type of shrimp called shiba ebi [ja] (Metapenaeus spp.), whereas the individual whole shrimp tempura commonly uses both the shiba ebi and saimaki ebi (juvenile kuruma ebi).^[14][15]

Another standard is using a type of small "scallops" called kobashira [ja] which are actually the adductor muscles of the bakagai or aoyagi clams (Mactra chinensis).^[16][11]

Kakiage using fresh sakura shrimp are usually offered in the vicinity of Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Prefecture where these are caught,^[17] although some recipes may call for the dried sakura shrimp which are more widely available.^[18]

Etymology

The kakiage is so-named because one "mixes up" kakimazeru (かき混ぜる) the ingredients before they are fried, or so it has been claimed, e.g., by the tempura chef and proprietor of Tenkichi [ja] in Yokohama.^[19]

Scholar Ikeda Yasaburō [ja] also introduces the same etymology, anecdotally quoting another tempura chef.^[b][20]

History

Morisada mankō [ja] (written 1837–1853) stated that the tempura offered at soba noodle shops at the time used shiba ebi [ja] shrimp^[21] (Metapenaeus joyneri). According to a soba researcher, tempura soba was invented around the Bunsei era (1818–1830), using the shiba ebi shrimp kakiage as topping.^[22][23]

The former shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837–1913) was a regular customer at the tempura restaurant Tenkin [ja], where he would order an especially large kakiage, served on a Nabeshima plate.^[24]

See also

• Food portal
• Japan portal

• Japanese cuisine
• List of Japanese dishes
• Crispy kangkóng
• Okoy

Explanatory notes

1. Rather than into balls or other shapes.
2. This chef was lecturing to a customer that the kakiage he ordered was not deep-fried kaki, which would be kaki furai.