March 18, 2012

teriyaki chicken {without the teriyaki}.

***updated. My sister Jess called and said the important factor for the soy sauce is that it's 'naturally fermented'...not 'naturally brewed'. I stand corrected, hahaha. Did not want my sister's good name being besmirched. Anyhow, the San J seen below is still good, k? So don't fret.

And today, I am posting another recipe.

I know, I know.

I have no business posting recipes like I'm some sort of kitchen show.

But this Teriyaki Chicken recipe is just so quick, easy and yummy, that I would feel unchristian not sharing it with you. My sister Jessica gave me this recipe but I might have modified it a smidge.



My favorite part of this recipe is the San-J soy sauce seen to the left.
John calls it shoyu. We love it.

A few weeks ago,
I did not even know about this soy sauce. I was cluelessly roaming the aisles of Lassens trying to find the most perfect soy sauce known to mankind. So I called my sister Jess and asked her which kind to get, as is our custom. From the phone, she was telling me to get something 'naturally brewed', while the Lassen's worker was working feverishly to fulfill our demands. They deserve a ribbon or something for puttin' up with us.

Oh and my sister uses freshly grated ginger root in this recipe, but I just grabbed some ground ginger from the pantry.

Here we go. Combine these 4 simple ingredients.

Literally it takes just a few minutes(confession #1. i was feeling a bit ambitious that day and used 8 cloves of garlic rather than 4. I'm pretty wild. I figured you can NEVER have too much garlic, right? Well guess what? You CAN have too much garlic. It was a bit spicier than I like. But still really good).

Are you wondering where the teriyaki sauce is added? There isn't any teriyaki sauce in this recipe! And it STILL tastes like teriyaki chicken. Very mysterious indeed, but do not question my sister, sensei Jessica, or else! Just kidding. She's as sweet as pie. I don't think she could hurt a fly. In fact, she will never ever kill an ant with her bare hands. It's a true story.

So, why no teriyaki sauce? Well, we couldn't find any that was naturally brewed, that's why. And I do what sensei Jessica commands. I really don't know all the ins and outs of cooking so I just listen to her.

Put your chicken THIGHS in the mixture(please, do NOT use chicken breasts--they will be so dry and gross). Put in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour--in my experience, around 3 or 4 hours for best results. But it's still great even if you just marinated it for 1 or 2 hours!

I usually make this around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and throw in the fridge for a few hours. It just makes my dinner routine SO mindless. And it tastes like perfection.

Put in the oven at 375 degrees for just 20 minutes! So speedy!

I think it tastes fab with broccoli and rice.

I use some of the extra sauce in the pyrex and pour it over my rice and it tastes as yummy as take-out.

Confession#2: I am currently sick of brown rice, quinoa and any healthy version therein. I'm hoping it's just a phase I will grow out of.
In the photo above, I used brown rice. And the rice tasted kind of yucko compared to white rice. So every now and then we just live large and pour it all over some white rice. I know. Such rebels. So the moral of this story: if you are making this recipe for company, use white rice so your guests will like you more. I am partly kidding.

My boys love this chicken so much. Down to the last bite....


...it is completely devoured.