The Trap of Non-Fried Fried Chicken (by Science-Minded Husband)

When I came home from work.

Science-Minded Husband: "I made fried chicken."

Atsuko: "Oh, really?"

Actually, Atsuko has retired from deep-frying.
I've already fried enough for a lifetime.

That's why
I've decided that when I want to eat fried food, I'll buy it.

Perhaps because I'm getting older, I've become okay with not eating as much fried food as I used to.

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So, that's the fried chicken in question.

Science-Minded Husband: "It was on Asa-Ichi."

Yes, my science-minded husband is a fan of Asa-Ichi.
He clears the breakfast dishes while watching the broadcast.
Twice a week, he makes boiled eggs for the morning salad,
and slices cabbage.
So, his companion during those busy mornings is NHK's Asa-Ichi.
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However, looking around, there's no sign that he used frying oil in the kitchen.

Science-Minded Husband: "Fried chicken made in the microwave."

Atsuko: "Ah, I kind of get it.
You season the chicken,
coat it in flour or potato starch,
and then zap it in the microwave, right?"

For some reason, my science-minded husband looked a bit troubled.

Science-Minded Husband: "You're mostly right, but not quite. The powder is different."

Not flour, not potato starch, but... powder?
The keyword for that day's Asa-Ichi was "grate."

Grate what?

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And then, dinner time.
Ta-da!

Atsuko: "Itadakimasu (Let's eat)."

Hmm, it's not exactly crispy and crunchy,
but it has a decent fried chicken-like quality.
It's not bad.

Atsuko: "It's delicious. You've captured the light texture of the fried chicken coating. If you can make it in the microwave, this is plenty good."

The science-minded husband looked relieved. It seemed he had expected some complaints.

Science-minded husband: "I wasn't sure about the powder."

To reveal the secret, the powder was grated freeze-dried tofu (koya-dofu).

Here are the ingredients (borrowed from the Asaichi homepage).

Hmm, it doesn't look particularly difficult. Atsuko: "So, you just grate the freeze-dried tofu and coat the seasoned chicken with it, right?"

Science-minded husband: "It's the quantity."

Atsuko: "??"

Science-minded husband: "It says 'two pieces'."

Atsuko: "Huh?"

Science-minded husband: "Is the size of freeze-dried tofu standardized?"

Atsuko: (So that's where he's coming from.)

Science-minded husband: "When I went to the store, there were some as small as dice, and some that looked quite large."

Atsuko: "Isn't it fine to just eyeball it? Just buy the common size and make it with that."

Science-minded husband: "Not listing the weight and just saying 'two pieces' is unkind for a recipe."

Atsuko: (...)

Science-minded husband: "I bought some freeze-dried tofu that looked on the larger side and grated it, but somehow I had powder left over."

Indeed, there was a lot of powder-like substance left in a plastic bag in the kitchen. ----

The science-minded husband who cannot tolerate vague measurements like 'one piece' or 'two pieces'.

There are other recipe descriptions he cannot forgive.
He insisted that even if told that, he wouldn't understand.

This was the moment it was decided that two pieces of freeze-dried tofu would also be added here.

I look forward to seeing what other words will be added here in the future.

(Serious beginners in cooking would probably be troubled if it weren't written down.)

The meal was delicious. Thank you as always. (Of course, I praised it to the skies. This is important!)

I wrote a follow-up story. It's here.

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The recipe is here (NHK Asa-Ichi website)