Mochiko Chicken Tacos With a Sriracha Pumpkin Salsa

Mochiko Chicken Tacos With a Sriracha Pumpkin Salsa are the perfect way to kick off the fall season and celebrate Taco Tuesday at once! #PumpkinEverything.

#Pumpkineverything

Brace yourselves. Pumpkin is coming. It’s almost fall guys, and sadly, that means saying goodbye to beaches, BBQs, and bonfires and hello to brisk nights, blazers, and bright red leaves. And of course, pumpkin everything. Honestly it feels kind of depressing writing a pumpkin themed post in August, but whatevs…PUMPKIN IS COMING!

So, you dudes may remember a post I did a little while back with the Fuckin’ Fab Food Bloggers? If you don’t, here’s a link to my Gluten Free Lemon Cake Donuts with a Blueberry Bourbon Basil Glaze. This time we decided to do something a little different, instead of sending each other random ingredients we picked one ingredient and made it the theme. Guess what it was! If you guessed apples, well, that was a pretty dumb guess.

So Who Made What?

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Nomageddon

Look it’s me! I did a thing!

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NY Foodgasm

Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream

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Sweet Remedy

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

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Big Flavors From A Tiny Kitchen

Pumpkin Pie Stuffed Challah French Toast

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Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine

Pumpkin Gnocchi

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Mochiko Chicken?

Best buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye bye.

Actually, we’re gettin’ the fuck out of Kansas. In fact, we are getting out of the continental US to the distant foreign land of Hawaii. That’s right say aloha to the Aloha State. Hawaiian food is an interesting animal. It’s kind of a mixture of Japanese, Filipino, and other Asian tastes mixed with American foods. In Hawaii they have something called Spam Musubi which is basically spam sashimi.

Spam Musubi.
Cooked spam on a rice ball wrapped in seaweed and basted with a soy based sauce

So, we’ve established that Hawaiian cuisine has some…interesting…food. Actually spam musubi isn’t all that bad.

OK, So What Is Mochiko Chicken?

Mochiko (pronounced Mo-Chee-Ko) is glutinous rice flour made from Japanese sticky short grain rice. When I say glutinous, it in fact, has no wheat gluten and can be used in gluten free cooking. It’s a great flour to use because the sticky proteins in the rice help bind baked goods and result in a less dry product.

Go with Blue Star Brand, it’s the good stuff.

So mochiko chicken is fried chicken battered in mochiko flour.

Interesting. Well how do I make it?

Good question. Let’s get cookin!

Start with boneless skinless chicken thighs. Why thighs? Because they’re tender and delicious. I suppose when it comes to chicken, I’m a leg man.

First thing to do is lightly pound the chicken with a meat tenderizer. Just make it an even thickness so it cooks evenly. Meat tenderizers have spiked ends, so I suggest being gentle and using the flat side. Once everything is even, cut each piece into 2-3 inch chunks.

In a large glass bowl, lightly beat 2 eggs. Then add in the soy sauce, mochiko, corn starch, sugar, scallions, garlic, ginger, and furikake and mix well.

Furry Caca?! Man What Are You Feeding Me?

No no no. Furikake (pronounced Foo-Ree-Kah-Kay) is a Japanese rice topping. You sprinkle it on top of white rice to jazz it up and usually consists of toasted seaweed, sesame seeds, maybe sugar, wasabi powder and other flavors. You can get it on amazon or at any Asian store.

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Otona No Furikake
Flavored with soy, sugar, nori, and bonito (dried fish). I prefer the stuff in the blue package.

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1 Packet Poured Out (2.5 grams)

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Throw the chicken in the bowl and toss to coat, let it marinate in the fridge overnight.

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Whoa! What Happened? I Blinked And The Calendar Skipped A Day!

Well guess what? It’s tomorrow! (time warp) And it’s about time to start cooking dinner. First we should make the pumpkin salsa. It’s simple, mix ¾ cup pumpkin puree (you can use canned or homemade) with sriracha and stir well. Mix in a teaspoon of fish sauce as a flavor enhancer.

Now prep the fixins. Grate half a head of cabbage and Parmesan cheese, separately. Now thinly julienne the white part of a bunch of scallions. They should look like super thin matchsticks. Now place them in an ice water bath for at least 15 minutes. The ice water helps cut the oils out of the onions and crisps them up. When you’re ready to serve, pat the scallions dry with a paper towel.

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DIY Pumpkin Puree

Did you know it’s really easy to make your own pumpkin puree? You can do it in an hour and this recipe uses a secret ingredient.

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Preheat a large cast iron or other heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, and preheat an oven to 225ºF. Add about an inch of oil to the pan and let it heat through. Test the hotness by flicking a few drops of water into the oil. It’s ready when it instantly sizzles. Reduce heat to medium and cook the chickens in batches, make sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until golden brown (about 3 minutes per side) Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to a plate lined with paper towels.

When you are ready to serve, wrap about 10-20 tortillas (depends on how many your serving) in aluminum foil and put them in the preheated oven. Warm them for about 5-10 minutes.

Serve by spooning some salsa into a tortilla, add the chicken, and other fixins. Bam! You’ve just made mochiko chicken tacos with a sriracha pumpkin salsa.

Currently Jamming To

I still love you, Shirley Manson

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This recipe requires a little something special. Here’s a list of what you will need:

[list][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]1 lb. Box of Mochiko Flour[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Otona No Furikake[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Sriracha[/list_item][/list]

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Print

Mochiko Chicken Tacos with a Sriracha Pumpkin Pumpkin Salsa

#Pumpkineverything!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Author Matthew Cetta

Ingredients

For The Chicken

• 2 Pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
• 2 Eggs Lightly Beaten
• ¼ Cup Soy Sauce
• ¼ Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Mochiko
• ¼ Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• ¼ Cup Sugar
• 4 Scallions – Green And White Parts – Chopped
• 2 Cloves of Garlic Pressed
• 1 Teaspoon Finely Grated Fresh Ginger
• 1 Packet 2.5 grams Furikake
• Vegetable Oil For Frying

For the Salsa

• 3/4 Cup Preferably Homemade Pumpkin Puree
• 1/4 Cup Sriracha
• 1 tsp Fish Sauce

For the Tacos

• 10-20 Soft Tortillas
• Scallions White part Only – Thinly Julienned
• Green Cabbage – Shredded
• Parmesan Cheese – Freshly Grated

Instructions

Marinating The Chicken

1. Pound the chicken lightly with a meat tenderizer just to flatten the chicken so that it cooks evenly. Cut each thigh into 2 – 3 inch chunks.
2. In a large glass bowl, mix together the eggs, soy, mochiko, cornstarch, sugar, scallions, garlic, ginger, and furikake. Toss the chicken in the mixture making sure each piece is well coated. Cover and place it the fridge and let marinate overnight.

For The Salsa

1. Mix together the pumpkin puree, sriracha, and fish sauce.
2. Cover and put in the fridge.

To Make The Tacos

1. Grate half a head of cabbage and put into a bowl and cover.
2. Grate some parmesan cheese put in a bowl and cover.
3. Thinly julienne the white part of a bunch of scallions. They should look like super thin matchsticks. Now put them in ice water for at least 15 minutes. When you’re ready to serve, pat the scallions dry with a paper towel.
4. Preheat a large cast iron or other heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, and preheat an oven to 225ºF.
5. Add about an inch of oil to the pan and let it heat through. Test the hotness by flicking a few drops of water into the oil. It’s ready when it instantly sizzles.
6. Reduce heat to medium and cook the chickens in batches, make sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until golden brown (about 3 minutes per side).
7. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to a plate lined with paper towels.
8. When you are ready to serve, wrap about tortillas (depends on how many your serving) in aluminum foil and put them in the preheated oven. Warm them for about 5-10 minutes.
9. Serve by spooning some salsa into a tortilla, add the chicken, and other fixins.

Recipe Notes

Don’t forget that this recipe requires marinating overnight.

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