Essential · 45 minutes · Serves 4
Pan-seared teriyaki chicken with white rice, scallions and sesame
The same root as the sous vide teriyaki chicken in the family: chicken glazed with soy, mirin and sugar until glossy. This version is the everyday Japanese home-cooking one, with boneless thighs browned in the pan and lacquered in the same sauce, over a bowl of rice.
The twist is the skin. The thighs are cooked skin side down over medium heat, without moving them, until the fat renders and the skin turns crisp, and the meat is finished on the other side. Only then does the sauce go in, reduced in the pan until it lacquers the chicken without burning.
Special equipment: wide heavy-bottomed pan; pot with lid for the rice
Ingredients
White rice
- 300 g short- or long-grain rice
- 400 ml water
- 1 pinch of salt
Teriyaki sauce
- 80 ml soy sauce
- 60 ml mirin
- 30 ml sake or dry white wine
- 25 g sugar or honey
- 10 g fresh ginger, grated
- 1 garlic clove, grated
Chicken
- 4 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, 180–200 g each
- Fine salt
- 10 ml neutral oil
Finishing
- 2 scallions (spring onions), in thin rings
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 small cucumber, in thin slices, optional
Method
White rice
- Cooking. Wash the rice in several changes of water, rubbing it, until the water runs almost clear, and drain it for 10 minutes. Put it in the pot with the water and salt, bring to a boil, cover and cook over the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest, covered, for 10 minutes; fluff it with a spoon.
Teriyaki sauce
- Mixing. Mix the soy, mirin, sake, sugar, ginger and garlic until the sugar dissolves.
Chicken
- Preparation. Dry the thighs very well and prick the skin several times with the tip of a knife. Salt them only lightly, because the soy adds salt.
- Browning. Heat the oil in the pan over medium heat and lay the thighs skin side down, flattening them with a spatula for the first few seconds. Cook them for 8–10 minutes, without moving them, until the skin is golden and crisp and the meat looks white halfway through its thickness. Turn them over and cook for 4–5 minutes more, until 74 °C (165 °F) at the thickest part.
- Lacquering. Pour off nearly all the fat from the pan, lower the heat and pour in the sauce. Boil for 2–3 minutes, turning the chicken and spooning the sauce over it, until the sauce reduces to a glossy syrup that clings to the meat. Turn off the heat before the sugar burns.
Finishing
- Cutting. Rest the chicken for 2 minutes and cut it into 2 cm strips.
The dish
Use bowls or deep plates. Place a portion of hot rice and lay the strips of one thigh on top, skin side up, slightly overlapping. Pour over the sauce left in the pan and finish with the scallions, the sesame and, if using, a few cucumber slices on the side. Final look: dark, glossy brown lacquered strips of chicken over the white rice, the green of the scallions and the pale dots of sesame.
Key points
- Dry the chicken and brown it skin side down without moving it.
- Cook it to 74 °C (165 °F) before adding the sauce.
- Remove the fat before lacquering.
- Reduce the sauce over low heat and turn it off before it burns.
Pairing
A Japanese lager or a dry Riesling. Without alcohol, cold green tea.
Notes
- No mirin: replace the 60 ml with 40 ml of sake or white wine and 15 g more sugar.