Karage

Karage or JFC (Japanese Fried Chicken) as it affectionally known has been a big family favourite for many many years.  It all goes back to when my big sister was living in Japan in the 90s, yes the fabulous 90s! When she returned home to Oz after 10 years she bought with her an infectious love for all things Japanese and some truly awesome recipes, but none as well received as Karage. Believe me it's super easy and super tasty, the best fried chicken you will have!
Basically you marinate chicken pieces in soy sauce, crashed ginger and crashed garlic, flour them and deep fry.  Since having to remove garlic from my diet just over a year ago we haven't gotten to indulge in this 'home made take away', then just last week it occurred to me that this is possibly one of the easiest receipts to turn into a FODMAP friendly meal. So here it is.

• Start by chopping up a chicken breast into small nugget size pieces
• Marinate the chicken for at least two hours in soy sauce and crushed ginger
• Either toss the chicken pieces through some plain flour covering well or if you want to keep them GF make a batter using 1 egg white and 2 tablespoons of cornflour.
• In your Wok heat some garlic infused olive oil (garlic infused olive oil is your best friend when you've had to cut garlic out, you get the flavour without the nasty side effects)
• When your oil is hot, carefully place your chicken in, its best to cook it in a few batches. Your Karage is ready not only when your chicken is cooked through but when it is golden, crispy and delicious.

It can served with pretty much any sides you like, chips, rice, salads, remember its just a yummy fried chicken so very versatile, we've used it as sushi feeling before, and would be yum in pita wraps or tortillas for a japanese mexican fusion. Just let your taste buds do the judging, Enjoy!  

The last piece of our family puzzle.

Wow
I can't believe it has been 8 months or so since I last posted…I reason why I hadn't posted…We fell pregnant for the third time and quite frankly I was way to tired to even think about blogging, and probably just a little bit lazy too.
Fast forward to early January 2015 and we welcomed our third little princess into our family.  Bring on being sleep deprived once again, thrown up on at all hours of the day and night, and being completely and utterly in love all over again. It's an amazing thing to realise that you have even more love to give.

Even though having a new born is exhausting, I actually feel like I have more energy now than when I was pregnant.  My pregnancy wasn't really complicated, even though I had gestational diabetes for third time, but it was very draining, and that most likely is due to having two children to look after 24/7.  It's not like you really get to have a truly restful day when you are running after a 3 year old and a 1 year old while your hubby is working on the other side of the country.  But we all got through it unscathed and now feel truly blessed.  All the extra hormones, the feeling crap all the time (at the start), the exhaustion, the tears, tantrums (from all of us at some points), the diabetes blood sugar tests, and of course the being huge, sore and uncomfortable was all worth it!

So welcome Miss Briar, you are much loved by all of us already and have truly completed our family.