Teriyaki 照り焼き

Teriyaki: a food that almost everyone knows is associated with Japanese cuisine

Put simply, teriyaki is the process of grilling foods in a sweet soy sauce marinade, known as 'Tare' in Japanese. Note that teriyaki is a cooking technique, not a food.

The word teriyaki is made up of two parts: Teri (照り) and Yaki (焼き)
Teri, a noun, refers to the shine created by the sugar content in the sweet soy sauce marinade.
Yaki, however, is a verb and describes the cooking process of grilling.

Although meats and poultry such as chicken, lamb, beef pork would be commonly used for teriyaki here in Australia, Japan mainly uses fish for teriyaki.

Of course, I had a go myself:





Tare (the marinade) is made simply of soy sauce, mirin (refer to my Japanese Condiments post) and extra sugar.
In this case, I used chicken thigh fillet, skin off. Chicken thigh fillet is known for being much more tender and because it is smaller, it cooks faster than chicken breast fillet as well.
Normally, the minced ginger is added on top of the teriyaki chicken when it is served. I don't like the strong taste of ginger, so I add some into the marinade.





All you need to do is mix:
3 Tablespoons of Mirin
4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
0.5 Tablespoons of Minced Ginger

Then, using a fork, poke the chicken many times so that the marinade seeps into the flesh.





After that, mix the marinade and the chicken together. Cover with glad-wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, though the best flavour is achieved when it is marinated overnight.




To cook:
Brown one side on a medium heat (the sugar in the marinade will caramelize, turning the chicken a darker colour)
Cook the other side on low heat, until both sides are similar colours.
Then, pour over remaining marinade and put the lid on, in a way steaming the chicken.
Finally, remove the lid and let the sauce thicken.

Usually teriyaki chicken would be served with toasted sesame seeds sprinkled over with rice and perhaps some vegetables. However, I've left out the rice.




The recipe that I followed made too much marinade and as a result, I had some left over. What I did with it was make fried rice.
Fried rice is a great way to use left overs. I had left over mince and vegies. All I did was scramble an egg, add in rice, mince and vegies and finally the marinade. To serve, I added peanuts and sesame seeds.

Deliciously easy :)
WB.