Kushiage Recipe

Kushiage is skewered shrimp and vegetables that are breaded with Panko and deep-fried, served with Tonkatsu sauce as a savory dipping sauce. The variety of ingredients is virtually endless — from meat and seafood to seasonal vegetables — making it one of the most versatile and fun dishes in Japanese cuisine. Kushiage is closely related to Kushikatsu, the Osaka-style dish classic built around skewered deep-fried pork, and the two names are often used interchangeably. Keep it simple with a few classics, or go all out with a full spread, it’s the kind of dish that’s hard not to love. What’s Kushiage? Kushiage is a dish that originated in Osaka, believed to have been born around the 1920s. At the time, a vibrant culture of laborers and street stalls flourished, and the dish was beloved as an affordable way for ordinary people to fill their stomachs. The Shinsekai district of Osaka in particular became the heartland of Kushiage culture, and that atmosphere remains deeply present there to this day. The dish spread further during the postwar period, eventually reaching all corners of Japan through Izakayas and Kushiage specialty restaurants. When it comes to names, the dish is most common...