Easy Chicken Teriyaki

These days, teriyaki has become a familiar term seen and heard everywhere in the U.S. In New York City too it is common now to find the word teriyaki in dish names on menus of non-Japanese restaurants, or to find, in supermarkets, bottles of teriyaki variants sitting shoulder to shoulder with other popular American sauces such as barbecue or Worcestershire. If you are into fusion sushi or America-born maki rolls, I'm sure you're familiar with such colorful items as Dragon rolls, which typically come with eel and avocado pieces drizzled with teriyaki sauce.
Every time I see teriyaki-style foods on menus or store shelves, I always remember my friend Teruaki, who I went to college with in a small town in the U.S. In Teruaki's case, somehow people on campus were able to remember his name rather easily - by associating it with an already familiar term, teriyaki! In the beginning, he had mixed feelings about this: for his name to be always a reminder of a Japanese sauce, rather than of a famous Japanese baseball player or fine bottle of sake. Eventually he came to appreciate how familiar people felt with his name and he was soon having fun telling people how closely his name sounds compared to the worldwide famous flavor from Japan.
As popular as our Teri was on campus, so teriyaki style cooking is very popular in Japan. Breaking down the word teriyaki literally, "teri" means glossy and "yaki", grill-cooked. While teriyaki has come to be interpreted as a flavor name here in the U.S., it actually refers more to a cooking style in Japan kin which ingredients are basted with sauce (tare). Happily, in contrast to the complexity of the sauce's sweet and salty, caramelized taste and irresistible rich, brown gloss, its preparation is incredibly simple. As basic ingredients, all you need is soy sauce, mirin (Japanese rice wine), and sugar.
As an alternative to chicken breast, this recipe works equally well with thigh meat. And versatile teriyaki sauce complements not only chicken; it's also especially good with full-flavored meats and fish, such as beef, duck, yellowtail, or salmon. And try pouring the remaining sauce in the pan over boiled vegetables like carrots or asparagus. You'll be impressed at how easilyy and powerfully the simple combination of three basic ingredients can sweeten your plate. So, forget buying pre-made teriyaki sauces, which are often overly thick and sweet, and remember: you are the chef of the sauce!

Written by Ayako Akeura
A TranNet member and freelance writer/translator based in New York City

♦ INGREDIENTS
(2-3 servings)

T   = tablespoon
t   = teaspoon

2    chicken breast with skin on
5 T   soy sauce
4 T   sweet sake (mirin)
1-1.2 T   sugar
2 T   cooking oil
1 T   sake (or white wine)
pinch of salt
vegetables for garnish (lettuce, tomatoes)

♦ How to make Easy Chicken Teriyaki

1. Rinse chicken breast. Gently remove any excess fat or stringy veins but keep the skin attached. Pat dry with paper towel. Poke the skinned side several times with a fork. (For extra flavor, sprinkle sake and salt over breast and let sit for 10 minutes.)
2. Prepare teriyaki sauce: mix soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, and reserve.
3. Heat the cooking oil in a pan. Over high heat, cook the skin side first. When the surface is cooked to a light golden brown, turn over and cook the other side in the same way.
4. Remove the excess oil in the pan. Over low heat, pour teriyaki sauce prepared in step 2 into the pan and cover. Simmer the chicken around 8 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan. (Teriyaki sauce thickens and burns easily. Adjust cooking time depending on the size and thickness of the meat.)
5. Uncover and keep basting the remaining sauce over the chicken, until the sauce is reduced to about one third.
6. Turn off the heat when breast is thoroughly cooked (i.e., when juice runs clear when chicken is poked with a fork). Allow to cool down; then cut into bite-size pieces.
7. Garnish with vegetables and serve.

Fish species are written using a variety of kanji. Each epecies has its own kanji name. It's said that not all such kanji names originated in China: many were created in Japan. Let's study the origins and meanings of fish names.