AFF Japan - Chicken Teriyaki

When I cooked this dish, Ian's complaint was why the chicken wasn't crispy
I discarded the skin, perhaps that's why this chicken teriyaki lost its cispiness
He always prefer those not so authentic kind of chicken teriyaki sold in many places in Singapore where the chicken is deep fried and then drizzled with teriyaki sauce
Despite the comment, he ate a big plate of it twice - lunch and dinner
He said, it's nice. I asked him, I thought you prefer the crispy type? His answer was, I like both LOL
Abby is not a fan of Japanese food. She doesn't even eat sushi at all
She'll eat only those deep fried kinds and also ramen or udon soup. Those don't smell or taste 'too Japanese'
But this time she ate a lot, twice too - lunch and dinner. I asked her, is it nice? She answered, oh yes, it's yummy. I said, that's Japanese chicken teriyaki, you know. She said, I like!
Looks like this dish gonna be served regularly at home from now on :)

Recipe is from Nami from Just One Cookbook

What you need:

2 chicken thigh and 1 chicken breast (skinless and boneless) (original recipe uses the skin to get some crispiness, I usually cook chicken with no skin for healthier option, also DH and I do not really like the texture, but the next time I cook this dish again I'll try to use the skin - crispy chicken skin should be good hehe...)
2 tbsp sake (for steaming)

Marinade sauce:
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
1 small onion (or 1/4 from a large onion), grate and include the juice
1 inch ginger, grate and include the juice

Method:

1. Rinse chicken and cut into small pieces. Prick the chicken with fork (not the skin side)
2. Cut the chicken thigh into 4 pieces
3. Combine marinade sauce ingredients into a ziplock bag. Add in the chicken and marinade for 3 hours (store in the fridge)
4. Heat oil on medium high in a large skillet. Place the chicken (skin side down). The marinade will burn easily. Don't add any liquid. Don't throw the marinade sauce
5. When the skin side is nicely browned, flip the chicken (skin side up). Add in sake, cover up the skillet and cook for 8-10mins
6. Remove the chicken to a plate and clean the skillet (mine was too difficult to clean just with a kitchen paper so I used another frying pan)
7. Heat a little bit of oil and put the chicken to the skillet, skin side down to make it crispy
8. Then flip again (skin side up) and pour marinade sauce. Cook until the sauce reduced a bit. Use spoon to pour on top of chicken a couple of times while you are cooking
9. Serve the chicken and pour sauce on top of the chicken (mine only had very little thick sauce leftover) 

Ian loves to have lots of teriyaki sauce whenever he eats this dish, hence I made homemade teriyaki sauce, too

I know that the general rule to make homemade teriyaki sauce is to combine same amount of soya sauce, sake and mirin and add sugar to our preference. Grated ginger and garlic can be added too
But I saw this recipe Nami shared, she mentioned that this one is more similar to American store-bought teriyaki sauce. Curious about how different it is from the original recipe
It's a kind of similar, actually - maybe a little milder. Perhaps only Japanese can tell the difference LOL

Recipe is from HERE

What you need:

4 tbsp soya sauce
4 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp water

Method:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, mirin and soya sauce, bring to boil
In a small bowl, combine corn starch with water till well mixed. Add the mixture into the sauce
Quickly whisk the sauce to evenly distribute the corn starch mixture
Stir the sauce while it's being reduced to the consistency you like

 

 

This post is for Asian Food Fest October 2013: Japan hosted by Alan from Travelling Foodies

 

 

Also, since this dish used up 2 tsp of soya sauce, I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich from Piece of Cake at this post