Chicken Teriyaki

Most of the times when I make something Chinese or inspired by something from Chinese cuisine, I end up tweaking the flavors to suit our Indian palate. So every time it's the  fusion of Indo-Chinese cuisine or in this case/recipe Indo-Japanese cuisine.

Teriyaki is Japanese way of cooking ingredients- like meat/fish or chicken. And it comes from two words – “Teri” and “Yaki” – and where ingredients are mostly broiled or grilled before they are marinated with teriyaki sauce. However, I haven’t broiled them as such in oven but cooked them in a closed pan and then sautéed them at med-high to get the glaze which is what teriyaki sauce does to ingredients.You can grill it if you wish.

These days teriyaki marinade is easily available in supermarkets. However if you wish to make your own teriyaki sauce, you need mirin which is derived from rice wine (Japanese love their rice wine). Put some brown sugar+mirin+soya sauce and cook till they become little bit thick. I haven’t made teriyaki sauce myself; always used the store-brought sauce which I think is great in terms of end result.

The sautéing part in this recipe is trick as you have to be careful in sautéing chicken and check if it doesn’t stick to the pan while frying as the sauce gets cooked very soon at that stage. Use a tong to flip the sides and keep rotating the sides of chicken. I have found chicken with skin works best for this recipe as it does give the extra oil which is needed to fry it or grill it.

Here is how we made Chicken teriyaki.

Chicken Teriyaki
Recipe Requirements
6 chicken drumsticks or chicken wings
3 tsp of grated fresh ginger root


For the Teriyaki marinade
5 tsp of teriyaki marinade
1 tsp of all spice powder
Salt as per taste
1 tsp of red pepper powder or red chilly flakes
3-4 tbs of white sugar
2 tbs of cooking oil

Method
In a big saucepan, add cooking oil. Let it heat up little bit.
Now add the marinated chicken drumsticks.
Cook at med-high for 4-5 mints. Turn sides and again fry them for 3-4 mints.
Now add in 1 cup of water. Put the flame to sim or put the flame to low, gas mark -3 or gas mark 4.
Now let it cook for 35- 40 mints or till the chicken is cooked well. To check if the chicken is cooked well or not, just prick the chicken with a sharp knife.
Now open the cover, and keep on frying both sides well. A glaze will form as the sugar or the sauce tends to get caramelized and this is the trick for that glazed teriyaki look. If you like little bit gravy then leave some , otherwise keep on frying without covering , all stock will evaporate leaving a nice glaze on each chicken teriyaki pieces.
Adjust salt or hotness with red pepper powder or red pepper chilly flakes and serve immediately.
Note-
I have always made with the teriyaki chicken with skin on, if you prefer without it, then trim off the skin and marinate the chicken pieces and move ahead with rest of the procedure.

Happy Cooking Friends