Here is the latest out of the kitchen at Action Hero HQ:
The weather late last week was hot and humid, so I planned on a quick and easy recipe for dinner on Saturday. I had a craving for Chicken Teriyaki, so I looked for a few recipes online.
One thing I wanted to avoid was the store bought Teriyaki, it has a tendency to overwhelm the senses and bury any flavors that are there.
So I found this simple and easy recipe from http://norecipes.com/
Marc Matsumoto is a good cook and was willing to share the recipe.
I started the day before with the marinade:
Marinade
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Mirin
(All of these ingredients were available from the local grocery store)
I mixed all of these together until the sugar dissolved. I already had the 6 boneless chicken thighs in tupperware so I poured the marinade over it, sealed it and left it in the fridge overnight.
The next day I fired up the charcoal grill to a medium heat and set the coals for indirect cooking.
As the grill was getting ready I took the marinating chicken out of the fridge and started the rice cooker. I then started the sauce:
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 2 tablespoons honey
I started with a hot saucepan so the soy sauce gave off a nice steam cloud, but then I added the rest of the ingredients. The goal was to boil the sauce to thicken it, not burn it. I used a combination, on the burner stiring/off the burner stiring for a few minutes until it thickened.
I put the sauce into a ramekin so I could baste the chicken on the grill.
I moved everything outside and put the chicken thighs on the grill, near the coals, but not directly over them, skin side down. I used a silicone basting mop and gave the chicken a nice coat of Teriyaki.
After about 8 minutes I used a pair of tongs and flipped the chicken over and gave the other side a nice coat of Teriyaki sauce. I didn’t want to use all of it because presentation is everything when it comes to serving and I needed to reserve some for that stage.
After another 8 – 10 minutes I checked the internal temperature of the chicken to ensure it was cooked properly. When it was done I moved the chicken over the coals to give it some grill marks. Be careful of flare-ups.
When the chicken was done on the grill I gave them all another brush of the sauce. This enhanced the overall flavor of the chicken.
I served the chicken over a bed of rice and opened a beer. And it was good.
