Semi From Scratch Chicken Teriyaki

We eat this dish a lot around here

I love LOVE LOVE takeout. Only its kind of bad for you. And it gets very expensive. So I'd been trying to learn to make homemade Asian take out for quite awhile now. I still have loads to learn but I have managed to make some delicious Teriyaki.

Its semi from scratch because I do use pre-made Teriyaki sauce as my base - eventually I'm going to upgrade to totally from scratch, but this will do for now.

However, even more than the sauce, the technique is important. Its all about cooking the chicken fast and getting that perfect serving of fluffy white rice. I've made this recipe about a dozen times and it has yet to fail me.

Make sure you read through the instructions carefully BEFORE you cook though - it's all about how you cook your meat!




Special Equipment

1. A wok (a big saute pan will work but a wok is better)
2. A medium pot with a close fitting lid (that is not negotiable - I burned rice with a loose lid once)

Loose lids burn rice.

Ingredients

For the Rice

1. 1 cup jasmine rice
2. 1/4 tbsp of butter
3. 1/4 tsp of salt
4. 1 3/4 cups of water

For the Teriyaki

Love this sauce

1. 1 1/2 lbs of chicken tenderloins
2. 1 small white onion (you can add whatever other vegetables you like here - mushrooms, broccoli, etc)
3. 1/2 cup of 'Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce' (it is the brand I always use)
4. 1/2 tsp seasame oil
5. 2 tsp. honey
6. 2 shake of ginger (like from the spice jar)
7. 1 tbsp of olive oil

Directions

For the Rice

1. Put your rice in a sieve and rice with water until the water runs clear. This will remove the excess starch from the rice. Don't skimp this step or cut it short. It will take a couple minutes. Also be sure you use a sieve with a fine enough mesh that the rice won't drop through.
2. Combine the rice, water, butter, and salt in your pot (do not stir) and bring to a boil uncovered
3. Watch it carefully! When it starts to boil immediately pull it off the heat and lower the temperature to 'low' (for me, btwn a 2 and 3).  Put the lid on tight and put the pot back on burner to simmer.
4. Simmer on low for about 12 minutes. Check to see if all the water has been absorbed into the rice but put the lid back on quickly (if its still watery give it an extra minute but don't overcook!).
5. Let the rice sit for at least 5 minutes, but preferably about 30.
6. Fluff with fork and serve!

(Rice recipe adapted from Fine Cooking)

For the Chicken Teriyaki


1. Trim your tenderloins. Its gross, but all that gunky fat is worse. I'm really fussy about my chicken so I trim it very carefully.  To trim you take a very sharp small knife and carefully cut away the thick white parts (the fat) and any other questionable bits of the chicken

The small piece above to the right is trimmed, the big piece below is not

2. Cut your tenderloins into bite sized parts and put them in a bowl. You can use kitchen scissors or your small knife.

All cut up. Chicken looks gross

3. Pour in the rest of your ingredients (sauce, seasame oil, honey, and ginger) in the bowl with the chicken and stir. Cover with saran wrap and put in the fridge (this can be as short as the time it takes to preheat the wok and cook the onions or as long as overnight)


4. Chop your onion. If you have a chopper - use it - because choppers are my best friend with onions.


5. Get your wok and heat it to medium. Toss a 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil in and add the onions. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are tender and transparent. (If you are adding other veggies, now is the time to add them)

Chopped onions at the start

Nice tender and transparent onions

6. Now amp the heat up on your wok to high. (For me - 8). It needs to get really hot. Keep moving you onions so they don't burn. Once your wok is hot go get your chicken


*TRICK* for a LONG time I couldn't quite get that take out quality in my stir fry. I kept underestimating how hot the wok needed to be. It wasn't that my chicken would be undercooked, it just would be tough and not juicy and amazing. In order to get excellent chicken you have to get your wok wicked hot and keep your chicken moving. Hence - stir and fry.  Don't be afraid to crank that heat.

Me moving the chicken around as its just starting to cook

Ok...pep talk is over. You have your chicken, the wok is hot - toss the chicken in and use your spatula to scrape and stir. Keep your chicken moving. I read somewhere that it should take 6 minutes - it usually takes me between 8 - 10 to get the chicken golden with a little bit of burny bits (the best part) and the sauce to thicken.  To test, pick one of the larger pieces of chicken at random - split it open - if the inside is pure white and not pink at all it is done.

The chicken is cooked here but not golden enough for my taste and the sauce isn't quite thick enough

ALL DONE!

7. Serve atop your white rice, grab some chopstick and dig in. Its a tasty and delicious weekday dinner!

I'd be sad we weren't having this for dinner tonight, but it's lasagna night so I'll live