Teriyaki is always a good meal choice because it’s relatively simple and forgiving in terms of flavor. The basic idea of the sauce is a sweet soy-based sauce. I recently bought a VERY pricey tiny bottle of soy sauce that is supposed to last me until Christmastime when I will refill it at home. When I saw that chicken was on sale at the grocery store, I picked up a package of chicken breasts and headed home with the idea of teriyaki chicken in mind.
This dish proved a little more time-consuming than I thought, and here’s why:
First, I started the rice because I figured that would probably take the longest to make. Well, I was wrong because it took me a good 20 minutes to gently cut my chicken with my sharp pairing knife on a china plate…do not recommend. Anyways, to make my rice (basmati instead of short-grain, but at least it’s rice) I simmered 1 cup of rinsed rice with 1.5 cups of water and then turned the heat down to low and let it cook for 10-12 minutes (I didn’t exactly set a timer). Then, I fluffed the rice with a fork and let it cool a bit in the pot.
Next, I cut my chicken breasts (2), which took a long time, as mentioned above. Once the chicken was cut, I cooked it in my pan. Here’s my second problem: my pan is nonstick. At home, I usually only use nonstick for eggs. Apparently it’s really hard to sear chicken on a nonstick pan. So instead the chicken kind of boiled in its juices. Anyways, it cooked at some point.
Now for the sauce, which turned out to be more soy sauce than teriyaki sauce. So once the chicken was cooked, I kind of poured in a good amount of soy sauce and then sprinkled 3 coffee packets of sugar over the chicken, then let the chicken sit in it for about 5 more minutes. Then chicken ended up a little tough and the sauce didn’t reduce, probably because it’s a nonstick pan.
Anyways, I plated up the chicken over the rice and packed up the leftovers. The next two times I heat this chicken up, it might be really tough, but hopefully not. I also don’t know how I’m going to reheat the dish because I combined the rice and the chicken, which don’t have the same heating times. Oh well, it was a good first try.
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