Teryaki Chicken

Chicken Teryaki is a staple dish in the LF household, I think mainly due to the fact that its an easy dish to whip up after a busy day at work, it also tastes amazing and the only thing that you need to think about is ensuring that I have got the chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw before I go to work. I love to serve this with egg and pea fried rice which is great as it uses frozen peas and is made with all storecupboard ingredients. I always have fresh ginger in the vegetable rack so I can make terayaki when ever the mood takes me, it lasts very well if kept in a cool dark place.

Terayaki is a Japanese method of cooking which creates a glaze of soya sauce (or if you are gluten free Tamari works fine), apparently the tera part means shiny and the yaki is the cooking method. The glaze here is from soya sauce, mirin and some brown sugar. I am sure the dish would work well with prawns or salmon also.

What you need

• 2 large skinless chicken breasts - chopped into bite sized chunks
• About 50g brown sugar
• 80ml mirin (rice wine)
• 60ml soya sauce or tamari (check thats is Gluten free)
• Salt and pepper
• Small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated -about a thumb sized piece
• 1 medium red onion or 6 spring onions - peeled and chopped finely (I have used welsh onions too)
• 1 clove of garlic - peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp seasame seeds - toasted
• Seasame oil or wok oil

What you do

• Firstly ensure you have all your ingredients ready to hand, prepared and ready to go as this is a really quick dish
• Start by heating the oil in the wok / frying pan
• In a bowl mix the brown sugar, soya sauce and mirin to make a sauce
• Fry off the chicken pieces , sprinkled with a little salt and pepper until golden
• Now add the ginger and garlic to the pan and cook for a minute or so
• Add the sauce mixture to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes as the sauce starts to reduce and thicken and become glossy.
• Add the onions to the pan and cook until they have wilted.
• The chicken should now be cooked, remove from the hob and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds
• Serve with fried rice immediately