Chicken Teriyaki with love

At home, I am the sweet tooth. Dutchie’s sweet spot is meat, and above all: chicken. I know I just can have him melt for a bucket of fried chicken or a good chicken Teriyaki.

Fried chicken ain’t nothing for me and it might take some more years before I get to fry chicken.

Teriyaki is another story. It’s the Tarte Tatin to our chicken… Something between me and him.

Through the years, we both have developed our own secret recipe and tricks (we do share this cute little competitive mindset in the kitchen) but the base is the same and both versions have gained respect and fame within our little circle.

The cool thing of Teriyaki sauce is that you can make your own in no time, and with less than a handful ingredients. Yes I swear! Forget that ready made bottled stuff.

All you’ll need is 4 ingredients: Mirin (syrupy rice wine), sake (dry sherry’s a good substitute that I often use), soy sauce and fresh ginger for a bit of bite. You might add a little cornstarch if you insist and i happen to like it with an extra drizzle of sesame oil.

A boil, a little simmer, a stir, another boil and you’re done. Really.

Finally, the key to success in the chicken Teriyaki (and in many chicken stir-fry) is the chicken: forget the breasts, you need dark juicy meat, leg meat. And above all good quality chicken: please, please, please go for organic or farm chicken!

Best is to debone them yourself so that you can have it skin-on so that you can get that to-die-for crispy chicken skin. Here’s a good tutorial on how to debone your chicken thighs/legs if you are in for the real thing.
But well, If working a chicken is not for you or if you are out of time, store bought will work fine too (although you’ll probably have to miss on the crispy skin).

Steam rice and stir fried greens (baby bakchoy, beans…) wil go great with it.

One last thing. Teriyaki and chicken are best friends, but give it a try with seared or grilled salmon, duck or lamb. You won’t be disappointed.
For a change, I think I might try David Lebovitz’ ‘countrystyle’ version inspired by Nancy Singleton Hachisu next thursday. Sounds pretty good too. With Tarte Tatin for dessert of course!

Chicken Teriyaki

Poulet Teriyaki

Serves 2
Prep 15 min cook 15

Ingredients:
300 to 400 g deboned farm or organic chicken thighs (preferably skin-on)
1 Ts vegetable oil,
optional: 1 Tsp fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced,
salt and chili pepper to taste,
sesame seeds, lightly toasted, to sprinkle.

For the Teriyaki sauce:
1 Ts grated fresh ginger,
100 ml Sake (or dry sherry),
100 ml mirin,
30 ml soy sauce,
optional: 1/2 ts corn starch (diluted in the soy sauce)

. Prepare the Teriyaki sauce: Combine the grated ginger, dry sherry and mirin in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Leave to reduce for 10 min on very low heat.

. Add soy sauce (and corn starch mixture). Bring back to a boil and leave to reduce 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat. Reserve until further use.

. In a hot (grill) pan. Add 1 Tsp vegetable oil. Grill or sear the chicken thighs evenly on medium to low heat for 8 to 12 minutes until golden and cooked through (we love ginger in tha house so I also add some when cooking the chicken). If you are using skin-on chicken thighs, alternate cooking the meat on skin side (3 min intervals) and flesh side (1 min intervals), until the meat is cooked through and the meat is golden and crispy.

. Reserve the meat and leave it to rest for 5 minutes before dressing the plates.

. Serve with steam rice: warm up the sauce. serve the chicken thighs in thin slices, crispy skin up, drizzled with Teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with thin slices of spring onions and lightly toasted sesame seeds.