Chicken teriyaki is a Japanese dish, that when served over rice in a bowl, is called Chicken teriyaki donburi (or don).
Traditionally teriyaki sauce is made with just three ingredients, soy sauce, sake and mirin and sometimes sugar.
Many teriyaki sauces are now enhanced with any, or all of the following - honey, toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic. It's said that these are Western additions and won't be found in home-made teriyaki sauces in Japan.
In terms of thickening, then many recipes call for the addition of cornflour and water (including this one!), but traditionally the sauce is thickened by slowly reducing the sauce in the pan.
For the teriyaki sauce:
The general rule of thumb when making teriyaki is 2 of each of the main ingredients to just 1 of sugar. If you can't get sake then you can substitute with dry sherry.
6 tablespoons of light soy sauce
6 tablespoon of mirin (rice wine)
6 tablespoons of cooking sake
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of finely grated or crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds
4 tablespoons of cold water
2 tablespoons of cold water mixed with ½ tablespoon of cornflour
For the chicken:
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil
Chicken breasts (1 per person)
For the don bowl:
Basmati or jasmine rice
Grated carrot
Diced Cucumber
Sliced spring onions
Toasted sesame seeds
To make the teriyaki sauce:
- Add all of the sauce ingredients, except the cornflour and water, into a small pan over a medium heat.
- Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for a few minutes before adding the cornflour mixed with the water. Stir until the sauce starts to thicken.
- Taste the sauce and adjust as required:
- To sweeten the sauce, add more sugar or honey.
- If the sauce is too strong, dilute with additional water. (Note, many recipes include anything from a couple of tablespoons of water to 350ml).
To make the chicken:
- Cut the chicken breasts into even sized chunks.
- Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot add the chicken and sauté until golden brown, but not yet cooked through. You may need to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan and steaming the chicken.
- Pour in the teriyaki sauce and cook for a further couple of minutes, being careful not to let the chicken breast overcook.
- To test if the chicken is cooked, remove a piece from the pan and cut in half. If it's still pink, then return to the pan.
