Dine in with DeadHungry in our quarantine cooking series

We’re living through unprecedented times – the current, very unusual alteration to the way we live life right now calls for solidarity, togetherness, and communication. So on Dazed, we’ve created the #AloneTogether community. Across the days, weeks, or months of the coronavirus pandemic and concurrent isolation measures, we’re connecting with our audience to offer URL experiences, art, and advice made with you and talent from across music, fashion, art, tech, and politics. We may be alone, but we are together.

In these times, dining in is the new eating out – but are you getting sick of banana bread on your IG feed? Craving some dirty hangover food after a heavy night with your pals on Zoom? We asked chef and photographer Alex Paganelli (the formidable @DeadHungry) to share some simple but stunning recipes you can recreate in isolation from the safety of your own home. 

In the first episode of our new six-part series, ‘Dine In With @DeadHungry’, Alex offers up an easy but impressive vegan take on the Japanese fried chicken known as chicken karaage. It’s something for both vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike – unlike seitan, it’s gluten free, and unprocessed, unlike the fake meat substitutes on the market. He encourages you to cook by eye, as nothing is meant to be too precise or technical – you’re hanging hard, remember.

Tune in every Tuesday to see what’s cookin’, with inventive new recipes and how-to videos from our IGTV. 

MUSHROOM KARAAGE SANDWICH 

It’s the day after the night before. You made more of a dent into the lockdown wine stockpile than you intended to and have now woken up with the hungover need for delicious things fried in oil to prove it. No, this isn’t chicken – but it is a great vegan (and gluten free, if you swap out the soy sauce for tamari) alternative that will make even the most die-hard fried chicken fans consider converting. Pay attention to the first half, really – the second part on assembling the sandwich is more of a guideline as it’s really up to you how you eat it! 

FOR FANS OF: Japanese chicken karaage, fried stuff, sandwiches, hangover cures.

YOU WILL NEED 

FOR THE KARAAGE:

Oyster mushrooms

Soy sauce (400ml)

Garlic (6 cloves)

Ginger (5cm)

Lime zest (x2)

Rapeseed or vegetable oil (1 ltr)

Potato starch or cornstarch (500g)

FOR THE SANDWICH:

A few of the fried mushrooms

A nice bread: soft buns, sourdough slices, focaccia, whatever you fancy!

Soy glaze (2 parts soy sauce, 1 part sugar, reduced to thick honey glaze consistency)

Mayo or chilli sauce

Coriander, roughly chopped

Spring onions, finely chopped

Sesame seeds

Anything else you want to add: salad, slaw, pickles…

METHOD

FOR THE KARAAGE:

1. Grate the garlic and ginger
2. Pour the soy sauce in a large bowl. Add grated ginger, garlic, and lime zest
3. Soak the whole mushrooms in the soy sauce for a few minutes
4. Dip in starch, deep fry immediately for 4 to 5 minutes

FOR THE SANDWICH:

1. Tear the mushroom apart if they are too chunky
2. Drizzle with the soy glaze
3. Add spring onions, coriander and sesame seeds so it all sticks nicely to the mushroom. Add more glaze if necessary
4. Cut your chosen bread, spread mayo or chilli sauce
5. Fill with the mushroom and any other topping you fancy
6. Eat while still hot and juicy!