Many thanks, Livo, I will give that version a try after collecting some potato starch from the hotel (last night I had only corn starch, so used that instead). Lệ Khanh thinks that equal parts of soya sauce and mirin may over-dilute the soya, so I will also experiment with reducing the mirin content. I was sufficiently depressed by last night's failure that I did not bother trying again tonight, and had a sausage sandwich instead ! Tomorrow we will eat real chicken karaage at 京寺 in Plymouth ...
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** Phil.