Teriykai Chicken, stir fried cabbage and rice.

Hey folks! I’m impatiently waiting on some book stuff, so I’m getting a little squirrely. Is that a real word? Anyway, I realized I haven’t posted a recipe in a while, so I took pictures of what I made last night. Teriyaki chicken! Here in the Northwest, we eat a lot of Teriyaki. It’s a Japanese method of grilling meat with a sweet/salty glaze made of soy sauce, mirin, and some other things. Here’s my recipe, with a lot less oil than the restaurant versions 😉 Feel free to add more if you like.

What’s that? It sounds too hard? Put down the take out menu, and back up slowly. This is going to be easy-peasy. For real. Let’s do this, and in less than ten steps!

You’ll need:
1 lb chicken (I use organic boneless, skinless thighs)
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced
2 small onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced. (or more!)
Prepared Teriyaki sauce (or make your own, see the end of the post)
White rice to serve

For the marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil

OR

Just soy sauce and oil, if that’s all you have 🙂

One: Marinate your chicken (I only use boneless, skinless thighs as they are more moist) in a mixture of Soy Sauce, a splash each of Dark Soy, Fish Sauce, Sriracha hot sauce and vegetable oil. Now, if you are like me, you add a ton of hot sauce. Up to you. If you only have Soy Sauce, just do that with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil. 🙂 Mix ’em around with tongs.

Boneless chicken thighs marinated in Soy, Dark Soy, Fish Sauce and Sriracha Hot Sauce.

Two: Chop up your vegetables. I used a half head of cabbage, two smaller onions and two cloves of garlic. Chop them into uniform sizes, and put in a dish to use later.

Chop that cabbage!

Three: Get your pans ready. You’ll need a grill pan (unless you don’t live in Seattle and can grill outside. If so, well, stop bragging about it), and a large frying pan. I need to buy a Wok sometime, but until then, this will do. Make sure the pans, even if they are non-stick, are well oiled. See how shiny mine are? That’s a good thing. Promise.  Now, Turn up the heat! I want that grill pan smokin’ hot. When I put meat on it, it’s going to pop and sizzle and burn the crap out of my arms. Got it? Good. Oil burns are badges of honor.

NOTE: There is a pot of rice cooking there, too. Feel free to use a rice cooker if you need to, though.

Grease up your pans!

Four: Throw the chicken onto the blazing hot grill. We’re going for a bit of char to get that authentic Teriyaki taste.

Throw on the chicken!

Five: When the chicken is about halfway done, heat up your fry pan. Add a tablespoon of oil, and throw in HALF of your veggies. Seriously. DO NOT OVERCROWD YOUR PAN. You will be sorry. Your veggies will turn to mush. Toss them around until they start to get little blackened bits on their edges. Toss veggies into a dish to wait, and then throw in the rest. Repeat.

Getting brown and tasty.

Six: Now you should also remember to check on the chicken. When it gets those blackened grill marks, flip it over! Then, throw your old tongs into the sink and get new ones. Those others are all chicken-y and gross. Prepare the Teriyaki Sauce by putting it into a bowl with a little brush (or spoon for drizzling). Brush some of the Teriyaki Sauce onto the chicken. Once your other side is suitably blackened, flip it and add more sauce. Repeat until you get a nice sticky glaze, but make sure to work fast. You may even want to turn down the temp a bit so you don’t burn the chicken.

Grilled and shellacked with teriyaki sauce.

Seven: Now that your chicken is almost done, make sure your veggies are, too. Add everything back into the fry pan. Drizzle a few tablespoons onto the cabbage mixture and stir well. When it’s heated through, take it off the heat and put it in a bowl.

Drizzle the Teriyaki Sauce onto the cabbage mixture.

Eight: When the chicken is done, remove it from the heat. Serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, over a bed of fresh white rice. Eat a generous helping of cabbage because those are the rules. I don’t make them, I just follow them. Drizzle Teriyaki sauce over the whole darn thing if you like.

Mmmm. Teriyaki.

Side note: So I make my own Teriyaki sauce because storebought stuff is too sweet and full of weird chemicals. It’s super easy. Add about a cup of soy sauce to a small pan on low heat. Add a quarter cup of Mirin (Japanese Rice Wine). I add a splash of Sriracha, but feel free to leave the hot stuff out. Now as the mixture gets warm, add two tablespoons of brown sugar. Stir until the the sugar is melted. Taste. If you like your sauce sweeter, add more sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Heat mixture until it reduces a bit and gets slightly syrupy. Cool and store in tupperware in your refrigerator. Note: I add some Fish Sauce and Dark Soy to mine, but you certainly don’t have to. Enjoy!

Make your own Teriyaki Sauce. It’s easy!