Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

350g / 12 oz thigh fillets skin on, bone removed (note 1)

Sauce

1½ tbsp soy sauce

1½ tbsp sake

1½ tbsp mirin

2 tsp sugar

To Serve

2 cups shredded cabbage

½ cup shredded carrot

a sprig of parsley or mint (optional)

Instructions:

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl or cup and mix well.

If the thickness of the chicken is uneven, make an incision where the flesh is thick and spread to level the thickness. Poke the skin with the tip of the knife in several places so that the sauce will get through to the flesh better.

Heat a non-stick fry pan over medium heat. Place the chicken in the pan, skin side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the skin gets cooked to a golden brown. Turn the chicken over and cook for about 3 minutes. (Note 2) If a lot of fat oil came out of the skin, absorb excess oil with a paper towel (Note 3).

When the chicken is nearly cooked, add the sauce, shake the pan to even the sauce and put the lid on. Cook for 30 seconds.

Remove the lid and cook until the sauce thickens and reduces to about 1-1.5 tablespoons (Note 4). Turn the chicken over and coat the skin side with the sauce.

Remove the pan from the heat and place the chicken on the cutting board, skin side up. Cover with foil for few minutes to let it cook further. Slice the chicken into 1.5-2cm thick pieces.

Place mixed cabbage and carrot salad on a plate and then arrange the sliced chicken. Pour the sauce over the chicken and add a sprig of parsley/mint if using.

Serve immediately.

Notes

I could not find chicken thigh with only skin on. So I bought chicken thighs with skin & bone on and removed the bones. You can use skin off and even chicken breast if you prefer. The texture of the chicken will be different, particularly with chicken breast but the flavor should be the same.

Depending on the thickness of the thigh fillets, time will vary.

It is important to remove excess oil as much as possible. Too much oil from the fat prevents the teriyaki sauce from sticking to the meat. This is the reason for using a non-stick fry pan with no oil. If using a normal fry pan, I’d suggest that you oil the pan with a small amount of oil when heating up.

You need to retain enough sauce to pour over the chicken on the plate. After turning off the heat, the sauce continues to cook with pan’s residual heat and concentrate further. So turn off the heat slightly earlier. You can always concentrate further if required.