35 minutes · Meat · Main course · For confident cooks
Tori No Teriyaki
For 4 servings · US units
Chicken in a glossy soy-mirin glaze, finished with sesame and spring onion
Teriyaki rests on a fixed ratio of sake, mirin, sugar and soy sauce — often described as the "golden ratio". In the pan that mixture cooks down to a syrupy glaze that clings to each piece of chicken. Serve it with a bowl of rice or a salad and you have supper on an ordinary weeknight; cold the next day, it's good bento food.
Ingredients
- 1⅓ lbChickenboneless thigh or breast, cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 tbspSoy saucebase of the glaze
- 4 tbspMirinprovides sweetness and shine
- 2 tbspSakefor the sauce or marinade
- 2 tbspSugarwhite or brown; honey as alternative
- 1 tbspHoneyinstead of sugar to sweeten the sauce (optional)
- 1 tbspstarchto dust the meat or thicken the sauce
- 2 tbspOilfor frying
- 2 tbspSesame seedstoasted, for sprinkling
- ⅓ ozGingerpeeled, finely grated
- 2 clovesGarlicfinely grated, for the sauce (optional)
- 2Spring onionsliced, for garnish or frying along (optional)
- Saltto season the meat
- Pepperto season the meat
- 8¾ ozRicecooked, served alongside (optional)
Method
- Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, trimming away sinew and excess fat as you go. Season the pieces with salt and pepper.
- For the sauce, stir together the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the grated ginger and, if you like, the grated garlic; you can sweeten with honey instead of sugar.
- Either marinate the chicken in the sauce for 20 to 30 minutes, or carry straight on and add the sauce later in the pan.
- Dust the pieces of chicken thinly with starch so the glaze has something to hold on to.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and fry the chicken over medium heat, skin side down, until golden brown. Turn the pieces, cover the pan and cook through.
- Blot off excess fat with kitchen paper, pour in the sauce and let it reduce, swirling the pan, until it is glossy and syrupy and coats the chicken.
- Scatter the toasted sesame seeds and sliced spring onion over the chicken and serve with cooked rice or a salad.
Tips and variations
Instead of the pan, the chicken can go into the oven at 180–220 °C for about 20 minutes, brushed with the marinade now and then; tenderloins make skewers that need 8–10 minutes on the grill, turned all round. Minced chicken shaped into balls, baked in the oven and then rolled in the sauce, is another route. Vegetables work well too — leek and pepper, carrot and broccolini, or baby corn, pepper and bean sprouts from the wok. If you prefer a thickened sauce, stir a little starch with water into it rather than simply reducing it; honey in place of sugar, plus a splash of rice, cider or white wine vinegar, balances sweetness with acidity. Served lukewarm, the chicken makes a salad with pineapple, leaves, pepper and coriander, drizzled with mayonnaise at the end or sprinkled with poppy seeds, peanuts and almonds. Made with breast meat, the chicken stays tender even once cooled — handy for the bento box.
Allergens
Contains: Cereals containing gluten, Sesame, Soybeans
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
