Chicken Teriyaki a la anytime

This is a super easy recipe.  My husband says he can eat it three times a week.  That's how much he likes it! That's what he tells me EVERY TIME I make it for him.  It's so easy, I'm tempted to do it, just to see what he does or says.

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1/3 cup sake
2 Tbsp. sugar, I used brown, but white works too (or adjust amount to your sweetness preference)
2 Tbsp. cooking oil (I use canola)
Pineapple Juice (optional, but delicious) *
Fresh grated ginger root, optional
1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed or diced
1 cup of raw white rice, cooked to yield 2 cups cooked rice

I usually buy the BIG package of chicken thighs.  Sometimes they are skinless, sometimes they aren't.  It's ok if they aren't...the skin pulls off super easy.  This week I was so excited to find a large tray of chicken thighs marked down 30% because they had two days before they expired, that I didn't realize they weren't boneless.  :(  That's ok, too.  The tray was just shy of 5 pounds and had 9 large thighs.  I skinned them then easily removed the bone and wah-lah, boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Next up, I chopped 4 of the now boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and sprinkled them with salt and black pepper.

Get a big skillet or wok and heat the 2 Tbsp. of oil.  I use a non-stick skillet/wok, so I actually used less oil than that.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook until brown on all sides.  Remove browned chicken to a plate while you get the sauce ready.

In the same pan that you browned the chicken, now add the soy sauce, sake, sugar, and optional ingredients (I use whatever of these ingredients I happen to have on hand to enhance the flavor).  Bring this to a boil.

(Yes, that is a Tupperware canister from the 1980's.  I still have my original set.)

Now that your sauce is boiling, add your browned chicken back to the skillet/wok and continue cooking as the sauce reduces and coats the chicken.

This sauce doesn't get real thick and that is part of the reason we like it.  I don't cook it down all the way.  I like to have sauce to ladle on my rice.

While the sauce is reducing, toss a green salad with some Miso salad dressing.  I found this at my local grocery store.

I like to serve this over rice (which I start cooking first) with the green salad and pineapple chunks (open early so you can add a few Tbsp. of juice to the sauce as it cooks).

Husband approved.  He never leaves any for my lunch no matter how much I make. Oh, well.  He had three servings, I had one.  Don't ask me why he left one lonely piece of chicken in the pan.  I guess it was so I could say that he ate it ALL.  LOL!

The longest part is preparing the chicken.  Since I didn't want to cook the whole bargain tray of chicken I found at the store this week, I decided to cut it all up before freezing it.  Since the chicken is browned before adding the sauce, I didn't want to add any liquid to my freezer bag.  I did salt and pepper my cut chicken, so all I have to do is defrost the bag and I'm ready to make another great helping of this meal.  I also labeled the freezer bag and wrote the basic directions on the bag (just in case I misplace the recipe...but, now it's here...FOREVER <3)

I buy my low-sodium soy sauce in bulk at Costco and one bottle of Sake from my local grocery store last for quite a few recipes of this.  Sugar and fresh garlic are staples in my kitchen, so usually all I need to buy to make this meal is chicken.

I hope you enjoy!

Annette

Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade

This first version of this recipe is the one my mom got from our neighbor Tak Matsuda. I don't have the original recipe in front of me, but it was for fried chicken using Panko Japanese bread crumbs...then you dipped the already cooked/fried chicken into this sauce before serving. I like the flavor to penetrate the meat so I use it as a marinade more often than as a sauce. I'll post a different one that Monty's mom makes later...

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup sherry
grated fresh ginger root
pressed garlic

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook gently until sugar granules melt. If using as a marinade, cool completely before adding meat. Good marinade for chicken, or beef.

Fried Rice (a la Mom style)

Be forewarned, it is NOT low fat.

Early in the day, cook some long grain white rice.  I like Mahatma brand and follow the package directions.  It comes out perfect everytime.  However, I recently purchased an electric rice cooker (with a brown rice setting) and I love using that too (the rice cooker, not brown rice for this recipe...but I digress and I'm tired...so back to the recipe).

Let the rice cool completely.  This is a must.  I made two cups of dry rice=4 cups cooked rice last time.

Later in the day, fry some bacon (as much or little as you like).  I always cook more than I need because I have so many HELPERS come by to SAMPLE the cooked bacon.  I'm spoiled and spoil my family, too...I only cook with thick style bacon and trim most of the fat off before cooking.  It is helpful if you have kitchen shears and cut the uncooked bacon into small diced-like pieces before cooking.  This way when they are cooked, you just fish the cooked pieces out of the grease and drain on a papertowel on a paper plate. You can cook the bacon slices whole and just crumble later with your hands when they are cool enough.
Reserve the bacon drippings, leaving a bit in the pan. 

While bacon is draining on the paper towels and cooling, break a few eggs into the hot bacon grease in the pan.  Break the yolks and finish cooking your eggs.  I usually cook about three or four eggs for this quantitiy of rice.  When done cooking, I put on the side of the paper plate with the bacon and cut into small pieces.

Chop some green onion and prepare to put it all together.  Heat the remaining bacon grease in the pan and add the cooled, cooked white rice and "FRY". 

Add in all the yummies (bacon, eggs and green onions) and a bit of soy sauce (the low sodium variety of course) to your taste and color preference.  A little really does go a long way if you take the time to stir everything up well.

Enjoy occasionally...