Karaage

Karaage (唐揚げ, 空揚げ, or から揚げ, [kaɾaːɡe]) is a Japanese cooking technique in which various foods—most often chicken, but also other meat and fish—are deep fried in oil.

The first references to a style of frying called karaage (then written as 空揚) were in the Genroku period at the end of the 17th century.

Chicken karaage was popularized as a "Chinese-style" restaurant food (using the characters 唐揚, where 唐 means Tang) in the 1930s.

There exists considerable disagreement among newspapers and publishers in Japan about the preferred kanji, leading some to write it phonetically as からあげ.

The post-war increase in the popularity of karaage is said to have begun in Ōita Prefecture in neighboring cities Usa and Nakatsu.