Chicken Teriyaki Bowl

So I'm back to my blog after like forever. I've almost forgotten all the fun things I've done this last month while my laptop was ailing. Well, I'd been avoiding this place for sometime. I didn't know what to update. Do I really need to update? If you are wondering, or were ever worrying, chill.

Not that I'd stopped cooking or baking. The baking slowed down a bit, but when I did step in, it was pure indulgence. As for cooking, in tandem with my sporadic approach to running this year, it swayed between healthy and easy to cook meals, and then completely losing my senses and ordering massive amounts of takeaway.


One of those things I made when I was in my senses was this Chicken Teriyaki Bowl. Adapted from norecipes which is linked to PBS. Well, basically Marc writes for PBS and hence the recipe appears in PBS. This recipe is simple enough to be a quick meal for even the laziest bum aka me on weekends. Well, thats actually me on most days. Daily cooking is not my forte and just thinking about meal planning for a week and then actually cooking it is enough to boggle my mind.


I followed Marc's recipe as close as I could. I did not have sake, so I just used water. I did have mirin, which if you do not have, try a white dessert wine, or who am I kidding? Add some extra sugar to white wine. Bah! Just don't make it too sweet. This might seem a little wrong to Indians used to eating spicy food redolent with all the masalas the peninsula can offer. If you are those kinds which I mentioned right now, this recipe is not for you. It is mild, bordering on bland with light flavours. But to me, light soy, a little sweet with a little astringent are good flavours. I actually shied away from adding ginger or garlic to this dish. I went uncomplicated and marinated the chicken in salt & pepper. That's about my patience level.


I used a chicken breast I had in the fridge, and I filleted it down the center to make two thinner halves. One which I cubed up for this dish and the other which I grilled for use in a sandwich later. I used the same measurement for sauce, cos I'm Indian, I like lots of gravy, Subtlety in flavour and all is ok, but hey I need my gravy to mop up my rice.

Ingredients

200g Chicken breast/thighs cubed into bite size pieces(thighs are better. thighs rock.)
Seasoning of salt & pepper
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sake/water
Bowl of boiled rice
1/3 cup blanched peas.

Marinate the chicken in salt & pepper.
Whisk sugar, soy sauce, mirin, water & salt together and keep aside in a bowl
In a non-stick frying pan, over medium heat, gently fry the chicken undisturbed till it's browned on one side. Flip and wait for the other side to be equally browned.
Whisk the teriyaki sauce and add it to the chicken, tossing to coat the chicken.
Let the sauce boil and reduce till it becomes a thick shiny glaze.
Serve chicken atop hot boiled rice, pour extra sauce in top, sprinkle with peas.

Dig in!