Don’t pre-season your lamb
Brown in oil in a pre-heated pan, over high heat until golden brown, roughly 3 min per side
Remove and let the pan cool a little until it’s no longer smoking if necessary
Put the pan back on the heat and deglaze with sake and mirin
Add soy sauce, water, sugar
Bring to boil, lifting off any scum
When scum subsides, add spring onion, garlic, ginger
Cook on low simmer with a lid on turning the lamb every 20 minutes or so
It’s ready when it’s wobbly, soft, and is at an internal temp of about 96’c – 3-4 hours, depending on how thick your lamb is
Chill and refrigerate overnight.
Meanwhile, make your mayonnaise by combining the egg yolks, dijon mustard, rice vinegar, lemon juice, MSG, salt, sugar and anchovies in a blender and blend until combined.
With the blender still running, slowly and steadily add the oil until emulsified and combined. Taste and add more niboshi if necessary.
Decant and leave to rest. The mayo will thicken considerably. Add water a little at a time and mix until you get the desired consistency.
Alternatively, and much more easily, you could buy Japanese Kewpie mayo and mix with anchovy
The next day, take your lamb from the fridge and remove the fat that’s solidified on top of the braising liquid,
Remove the lamb and move to a chopping board. Tear or cut the lamb roughly into 2” pieces and emerge in a tub of pre-seasoned equal parts potato flour / corn flour
Dredge in the flour and leave to sit on a pan for 5 minutes for the flour to really cling to the lamb
Meanwhile, pre-heat some vegetable or rapeseed oil to 180c – about 15 mins.
Cooking in batches so as not to crowd the pan, cook each batch the following way:
fry for 2 minutes, remove and set aside for 1 minute
fry for 1 minute, remove and set aside for 1 minute
fry for 1 minute, remove and season with salt and shichimi togarashi
If not eating immediately you can keep it the karaage in a very low (around 100c) pre-heated oven.
Serve with the mayo dip and a beer. Alternatively, for a more substantial meal, serve over rice with shredded nori seaweed on top and lashings of the anchovy mayo!