chicken | Recipe Road

chicken teriyaki, miso roasted eggplant, spinach and rice

This recipe brings together three of our favourite Japanese dishes into one little bowl of goodness. We serve this as an easy weeknight dinner and take leftovers to work the next day, or you could bulk the meal up with some edamame, sashimi or tempura to create a Japanese dinner party for friends.

We have adapted these recipes from Adam Liaw’s wonderful books The Zen Kitchen and Asian After Work. This recipe serves 4 people.

Teriyaki Sauce:

125ml soy sauce
100ml mirin
100ml sake
40g caster sugar

Mix together all ingredients in a saucepan and place over a low heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then set aside until cool. You will have enough sauce for many meals, store in a bottle or jar in the cupboard until ready to use.

Miso Roasted Eggplant:

2 large eggplants, cut into cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt

Miso Dressing:

3 Tbsp miso paste
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp water

Heat the oven to 220°C. Toss the eggplant with the olive oil and a pinch of salt and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Roast the eggplant for 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is beginning to brown. Mix together the miso dressing ingredients, and pour over the eggplant. Stir well to ensure the eggplant is evenly coated and then continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the dressing becomes less watery and the eggplant begins to caramelise. Remove from the oven and set aside.

miso roasted eggplant

Teriyaki Chicken:

1 small brown onion
6 chicken thigh fillets
2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp vegetable oil
½ cup Teriyaki Sauce

Finely slice the onion and set aside. Slice the chicken thighs into small wedges and toss in the cornflour. Heat the oil in a non-stick frypan over high heat, then add the onion. Cook until the onion begins to brown, then add the chicken. Continue frying until the chicken is browned on all sides, but not cooked through. Add the Teriyaki Sauce and toss the chicken and onion to coat. Cook until the sauce reduces to a glaze and the chicken is cooked to your liking, then set aside.

chicken teriyaki

Soy Spinach:

1 bunch of spinach
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Wash the spinach in cold water and leave to soak for around 10 minutes. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then using chopsticks or tongs, hold the root and stems of the spinach in the water. After 10 seconds push the leaves of the spinach plant into the water as well. Cook for one minute then remove and drain in cold water. Once the spinach is cold, squeeze out as much of the water as possible, remove the roots and slice the spinach into 5cm lengths. Pour over the soy sauce and set aside.

To serve:

Medium grain white rice
Bonito flakes
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Toasted black and white sesame seeds

Add a little rice to each bowl, place some teriyaki chicken beside it, then some spinach, and finally some of the miso roasted eggplant. Sprinkle a pinch of the bonito flakes on the spinach, and scatter some sesame seeds and the spring onions across the chicken, eggplant and rice. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Chicken Asado

On our recent trip to The Philippines, we spent a week visiting Patrick’s family. As everyone knows, nothing tastes better than your mother’s cooking! We were treated to homemade sinigang, adobo, caldareta and Mommy’s famous Chicken Asado. This recipe is our attempt to replicate the experience of eating your mother’s home cooking, but with modern plating. If you’ve never tried Filipino cuisine, this is a great place to begin. It’s an easy but tasty dish with no challenging ingredients. Let us know if you enjoy it!

This recipe serves 6 people. Serve with rice.

Ingredients:

100ml soy sauce
juice of ½ a lemon
6 whole chicken legs (Marylands)
2 medium potatoes
1 large carrot
Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
85g liver spread or chicken paté
300g tomato passata
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3 green chillies, whole
salt to taste
parsley and sorrel leaves, to garnish

Method:

For the marinade, combine soy sauce and lemon juice in a large bowl and add the chicken legs. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.
Cut half of the carrot into matchstick shaped batons approximately 3cm by ½cm. Slice the remaining carrot and the potatoes into ½cm thick slices. Using a 4cm cookie cutter, cut the sliced vegetables into rounds. Then, using a 2.5cm cookie cutter, punch a hole through the middle of the carrot circles, to create a carrot ring and a smaller circle.
In a pan, heat the oil and then shallow fry the potato and carrot until tender and brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving the liquid. Fry the chicken in the same pan, browning both sides but not cooking all the way through. Remove and set aside. Once the chicken cools a little, french the bone by cutting through the meat around the bone 1 inch from the base of the leg. Remove the skin and flesh by pulling it from the bone. Clean the bone by scraping away any remaining meat with a knife.
Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until slightly brown, then add the liver spread or paté and continue to sauté until this has browned as well.
Add the tomato passata, brown sugar, pepper, water and marinade. Mix together and add the chicken pieces back to the pan. Simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes, or until the sauce is thick. Add the bay leaves and chillies and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the chicken from the sauce and set aside. Strain the sauce through a fine metal sieve into a large bowl, and use a stick blender to emulsify the sauce. Wipe out the pan and return the sauce, then return the pan to a medium heat, reducing the sauce until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

To Serve:

Swirl 3 tablespoons of sauce in a circular pattern across each plate. Place a chicken leg on one side of the plate, and pour another tablespoon of sauce on top of the chicken. On the opposite side of the plate, arrange the potato and carrot circles and batons according to your preference. Finely chop some of the parsley and use it to garnish the chicken leg. Decorate the plate with some sorrel and parsley leaves. Sarap!

Traditional Asado

If you’re curious to try a more traditional Asado, or just can’t be bothered with fancy plating, simply change a few steps above.

At Step 2, slice all of the potatoes and carrots into 1/2 cm thick slices.

At Step 4, there’s no need to french the bone.

At the end of Step 8, return the chicken, potatoes and carrot to the pan, stir well and serve immediately with rice.