teriyaki chicken and vegetables

Japanese Cooking traditions, techniques, ingredients, recipes by Emi Kazuko (with recipes by Yasuko Fukuoka) is my first and so far my favorite cookbook for Japanese foods.

I don't follow the recipes closely as I haven't developed the taste for some of the ingredients, but, the general techniques and introduction to ingredients in this book is pretty good. This chicken teriyaki recipe was inspired by salmon teriyaki recipe in Kazuko's book.

Ingredients
2 medium frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts, thawed
veggies of your choice: green beans, carrots, baby corn, broccoli florets etc.
1 Tbsp sesame oil, or canola oil

for the Teriyaki sauce and glaze:
¼ cup shoyu, or dark soy sauce
¼ cup mirin (or, sherry, if mirin is not handy)
¼ cup sake
1 Tbsp brown sugar (or, superfine caster sugar, if handy)

Preparation:

1. heat the teriyaki sauce ingredients gradually till sugar dissolves; off heat, let it cool
2. cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces and marinate in some of the cooled teriyaki sauce, for about 15-20 minutes
3. blanch the veggies with some salted water, drain and keep warm
4. heat the oil in the pan to high heat, drain the marinated chicken pieces, toss them into the hot pan and stir them around; alternately, pre-heat grill or broiler and grill or broil the chicken; i prefer to pan-fry
5. toss around, turning all sides, over medium high heat, adding teriyaki sauce a little at a time to glaze the chicken pieces; cook till chicken is done, still juicy and tender; usually, i check the temperature of the thickest piece by taking it off-heat and sticking a meat thermometer in the center - if it is close to 170°F I am happy, it is done
6. in a serving platter, arrange some of the veggies, some rice and some chicken pieces

The amount here roughly serves two adults and one toddler for one wonderful supper:-)

Save any remaining teriyaki sauce in the fridge. It usually lasts months.

Alternately, serve with cooked Japanese white rice (uruchimai), or brown rice (genmai): dish up some rice in a serving bowl, top with veggies and chicken, serve warm.