Teriyaki Chicken (attempt #1)

We love to eat Teriyaki Chicken when we go out to eat. At home, my attempts over the years have been unremarkable. In effort to renew this quest I tried the following recipe. This recipe is made with bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs. That might sound awful to some, but chicken thighs in general stay moist (dark meat) compared to a breast (the white meat) and leaving the skin on helps keep the meat from drying out. Just pull the skin off before you eat and no worries.  I liked this recipe, but the kids told me that they want it boneless and in bite size pieces like you find at the restaurants. Okay, that will be the next try. 

I am also trying to move the family over to brown rice. We love rice at our house, in fact I have probably 100 pounds of long grain and 100 pounds of short grain in my food storage and we eat rice at least once or twice a week. Converting them to brown has not been easy, but I have been slowly trying to do so more and more. I don't think you can tell in the picture above, but the rice is half white short grain and half brown short grain. Last time I used only 1/4 of brown rice, now I went with half. Of course only 1 child noticed, the one that always does and was not thrilled. A friend of mine told me that she learned to put a whole bunch of different rices and certain grains in a pressurer cooker together and let it go, so I am very inspired.

Teriyaki Chicken-Stovetop (Attempt #1)

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 5 oz. each), trimmed of excess fat and skin

black pepper

2 t. vegetable oil

1/2 cup soy sauce (I use low-sodium)

1/2 cup sugar

2 T. mirin*

1/2 t. freshly grated ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t. cornstarch

Rinse and pat chicken dry with paper towels, then season with pepper. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just beginning to smoke. Place chicken skin side down in skillet. Cook until skin is seep brown and very crisp 16 to 20 minutes, checking browning after 10 minutes and adjust heat if needed. 

Meanwhile, whisk soy sauce, sugar, mirin, ginger, garlic and garlic together in a small bowl.

Remove chicken from skillet; using tongs flip chicken thighs. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until second side is brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of thigh (not touching bone) registers about 175 degrees. 

Pour off fat from skillet. Add soy mixture, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Turn chicken to coat with sauce and simmer until sauce is thick and glossy, about 3 minutes. Place chicken on a platter, transfer sauce to a small bowl and serve, passing sauce separately. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

*Mirin is a sweet rice wine vinegar readily found in the ethnic part of your grocery store. Mirin is the key component of teriyaki .