Chicken Teriyaki

     One of the most popular Japanese dishes is Chicken Teriyaki. Teriyaki is a cooking method, teri which means luster and yaki which means grill or broil. This makes the dish a grilled food which is marinated and basted with a teriyaki sauce. The marinade is composed of sugar, mirin, and soy sauce but sometimes ginger is added. Although it is possible to substitute mirin with sake and sugar, the key ingredient in teriyaki sauce is mirin because it adds overall luster to the dish.

            In cooking the dish, the chicken is first marinated in teri and then grilled until partially cooked. After grilling it will be cooked together with the teriyaki sauce. After this, it is garnished with toasted sesame seeds which compliments the sweet and tangy flavor of the chicken. If you want to learn how it's made, read on!

 Ingredients:

200	ml	sake
200	ml	mirin
200	ml	dark soy sauce
30	g	sugar
1500	g	chicken legs, deboned
150	ml	vegetable oil
25	g	pepper

Procedure:

Sauce: Mix the sake, mirin, and dark soy sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat; boil until the sugar is dissolved.

Chicken:

To prepare: Pierce the skin of your chicken with a fork to allow the sauce to penetrate freely and avoid shrinkage during frying.

To pan-fry: over a high flame, heat a scant amount of oil in a large skillet. Lay the chicken skin-side down in the skillet. Fry over medium heat, until the skin is well browned. Move the chicken  to keep it from sticking to the skillet. When browned, turn and fry, covered, for about 10 minutes.

Remove chicken temporarily from the pan. Over medium heat, pour the teriyaki sauce into the skillet used along with the juices left in it, bring liquid to a boil, stirring. After a minute or so the liquid will thicken slightly and take on a luster. Return the chicken to skillet. Continue cooking over high heat, turning chicken several times so that it is well coated with the sauce. Remove the heat until it is almost completely reduced, a few minutes at most. Serve and enjoy!

- Paula Martinez & Jose Malonzo