In addition to this month’s theme of HOMEMADE SAUCES (Homemade Tomato ketchup, Barbeque sauce, Nacho’s cheese sauce and Instant salsa, 6 varieties of Mayonnaise) next comes the Japanese sauce- Teriyaki. I believe teriyaki doesn’t need any intro as it being celebrated in many nations, though it’s from Asian origin.
What is Teriyaki❓- it refers both to the cooking techniques and sauce prepared in Japan. The word ‘Teri’ refers to the shine and sheen imparted on the food by the sugar content in the sauce (‘Tare’ in Japanese) and ‘yaki’ refers to the Japanese grilling style. This glossy, robust sauce is packed with salty-sweet flavours and an umami punch. Umami is another Japanese term for ‘pleasant savoury taste’. Traditionally they are made from Soy sauce, sake or mirin with brown sugar and used as basting sauce or as a marinade for red meat or seafood. Today’s sauce is spruced up with more flavouring agents like sesame oil, ginger, garlic, honey and corn starch (thickening agent, optional).
What is Sake and Mirin❓- they are Japanese rice wines, an indispensable condiment used in their cooking. Cooking Sake has more alcohol content and less sugar content while Mirin has less alcohol content and more sugar content. Both are obtained from the fermentation of rice. Mirin imparts that glossy, lustrous finish to the sauce.
Substitutes for Mirin– if you don’t have stock of this condiment or you want an alcohol-free substitute, you can try with variety of vinegars available in the market,
1) rice vinegar
2) white vinegar
3) Apple Cider vinegar
4) Balsamic vinegar
Generally, for every tablespoon of mirin, you substitute with 2 tbsp of vinegar added with 1 tsp of sugar. In, this recipe, I increased the sugar content according to my mirin substitute-vinegar, in addition to it, I included honey for the glossy and sheen finish. Also, I used a combo of Apple cider and white vinegar. Feel free to use your choice of vinegar, and add sugar accordingly.
Rest of the ingredients are easily available in your pantry. Preparation is pretty easy, done and dusted in a flash. Consistency varies from thin to thick according to your requirements and what you are planning for.
Usage– it can be used as marinade or basting sauce, as a glaze, in stir fry, noodles, over rice. Due its versatility, it’ll become a pantry staple in your kitchen for sure.
Storage-since it’s loaded with vinegar and soy sauce, it has a shelf life of 3 weeks in the refrigerator. You can double or triple the quantity and store it for future use and utilize it in various recipes.
You can make gluten free by substituting soy sauce with coconut aminos or gluten-free soy sauce. And for vegans, with agave syrup or maple syrup as brown sugar substitute.
Serving suggestions: From teriyaki sauce, I prepared teriyaki stir fry veggies, teriyaki chicken to be served with sticky rice (from jasmine rice). Also, I used it in my casserole dish, crazy and messy tray bake made with Baguette loaded with veggies and homemade sauces including teriyaki.
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For Sauce– heat a pan with sesame oil, then add chopped ginger and garlic, sauté for a minute. Then add brown sugar, let it melt and darken.
Then add water (refer notes).
Both the vinegars.
Soy sauce and honey.
Let it boil for 5 minutes in medium flame. Mix 1 tbsp corn-starch with 2 tbsp water. After 5 minutes of boiling add the corn-starch slurry (refer notes) and mix well.
Reduce the flame to low and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. The consistency of the sauce can be thin to thick depending on your requirements and the food you chose to prepare. When you let the sauce to run on the ladle, sauce runs down quickly, then it needs a little thickening, so let it boil. Perfect consistency is when you let the sauce to run on the ladle, sauce should roll steadily leaving a thick coating on the ladle like 👇
Once it reaches the right consistency, switch off the flame, also keep in mind, that sauce tends to thicken more after cooling. Strain the sauce, squeeze and crush ginger, garlic to get the essence from them. If you like the chopped ginger and garlic in your sauce, then forget straining.
Finally drizzle with some roasted sesame seeds, to get that crunchy bite in your sauce.
Shine and sheen Teriyaki sauce is ready to serve.
For Teriyaki Chicken– marinate chicken thighs with chilli powder and salt. Let it rest for minimum 1 hr -maximun overnight.
Take 1 tbsp each all-purpose flour and corn-starch, mix well.
After marination, dust the chicken thighs on all-purpose flour and corn-starch mixture.
Then sear fry them with little oil on a thick skillet in medium flame. Once they turn golden brown crusty on both sides, remove from the pan.
And let it cool. Slice them.
Pop into the dry pan, immediately add Teriyaki sauce.
Let the sauce coat the chicken slices evenly on all sides and cook till it reaches your desired consistency. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.
And chopped green onion or scallions.
Bold and lustrous teriyaki chicken is ready to serve with Sticky rice or noodles or can be taken as an appetizer.
Serving suggestions:With Teriyaki sauce, I prepared teriyaki chicken, teriyaki stir fry veggies, to be served with Sticky rice
Recipe card
Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10+!0 minutes
Cuisine: International, Japanese
Category: Accompaniments, Appetizer
Serves: 4
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
For Teriyaki Sauce–
Soy sauce – ½ cup
Water – 1 cup
Apple cider vinegar – 2 tbsp
White vinegar – 2 tbsp
Light brown sugar – 4 tbsp
Honey/Agave syrup – 4 tbsp
Sesame oil – 1 tsp
Chopped ginger – 1 tsp
Chopped garlic – 1 ½ tsp
Corn starch – 1 tbsp (optional)
Water – 2 tbsp (to make the corn-starch slurry)
Roasted sesame seeds – as required
For Teriyaki Chicken–
Chicken thighs – ¼ kg
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
For dusting –
Corn-starch – 1 tbsp
All-purpose flour/ maida – 1 tbsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Teriyaki sauce – as required
Roasted sesame seeds – as required
Instructions:
- For Sauce– heat a pan with sesame oil, then add chopped ginger and garlic, sauté for a minute.
- Then add brown sugar, let it melt and darken, then add water (refer notes), both the vinegars, soy sauce and honey.
- Let it boil for 5 minutes in medium flame. Mix 1 tbsp corn-starch with 2 tbsp water.
- After 5 minutes of boiling add the corn-starch slurry (refer notes) and mix well. Reduce the flame to low and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
- The consistency of the sauce can be thin to thick depending on your requirements and the food you chose to prepare. Perfect consistency is when you let the sauce to run on the ladle, sauce should roll steadily leaving a thick coating on the ladle. If it runs down quickly, then it needs a little thickening so let it boil.
- Once it reaches the right consistency, switch off the flame, also keep in mind, that sauce tends to thicken more after cooling.
- Strain the sauce, squeeze and crush ginger, garlic to get the essence from them. If you like the chopped ginger and garlic in your sauce, then forget straining.
- Finally drizzle with some roasted sesame seeds, to get that crunchy bite in your sauce.
- Shine and sheen Teriyaki sauce is ready to serve.
- For Teriyaki Chicken– marinate chicken thighs with chilli powder and salt. Let it rest for minimum 1 hr -maximum overnight.
- After marination, dust the chicken thighs on all-purpose flour and corn-starch mixture.
- Then sear fry them with little oil on a thick skillet in medium flame.
- Once they turn golden brown crusty on both sides, remove from the pan and let it cool.
- Slice them and pop into the dry pan, immediately add Teriyaki sauce.
- Let the sauce coat the chicken slices evenly on all sides and cook till it reaches your desired consistency.
- Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion or scallions.
- Bold and lustrous teriyaki chicken is ready to serve with Sticky rice or noodles or can be taken as an appetizer.
Notes:
- Substitutes for Mirin– if you are looking for an alcohol-free substitute, you can try with variety of vinegars available in the market like,
- 1) rice vinegar
- 2) white vinegar
- 3) Apple Cider vinegar
- 4) Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp mirin = 2 tbsp of vinegar+ 1 tsp of sugar.
- I also, included honey for the glossy and sheen finish apart from sugar.
- I used a combo of Apple cider and white vinegar. Feel free to use your choice and availability of vinegar, add sugar according to the intensity of the acid in the vinegar.
- Soy sauce – I used naturally brewed soy sauce. It means the soy beans are fermented naturally with wheat, water and salt for ages while chemical or non-brewed soy sauce are prepared within few days which is saltier.
- There is low sodium soy sauce available in markets. If you get it, then skip adding water, as the sauce is less salty. If you cannot get it, buy the regular soy sauce which is high in sodium, then dilute it double the portion with water. I did the same, for ½ cup soy sauce, I added 1 cup water.
- You can make gluten free teriyaki sauce by substituting soy sauce with coconut aminos or gluten-free soy sauce or tamarin (Japanese soy sauce fermented without wheat).
- Sugar – it’s always best to use brown sugar (light brown sugar) for the texture, taste and colour. You can interchange with dark brown sugar, but be mindful with the quantity, as it’ll be more in molasses and sweeter. You can also use white sugar, but I’ll not assure for the colour of the sauce.
- Vegans, can use agave syrup or maple syrup as substitute for brown sugar.
- Corn-starch – it’s mixed with water and added to the sauce as thickening agent. Adding corn-starch has 2 disadvantages- 1) It reduces the intensity of the flavour and colour. 2) It results in a slimy texture when the sauce is reduced with chicken in teriyaki chicken recipe.
- If you do not want these 2 effects on your sauce, then skip adding corn-starch and simmer the sauce for longer time to thicken naturally. This will result in good intensely flavoured and coloured teriyaki sauce. And you will not face the slimy texture.
- Roasted sesame seeds – it’s an optional ingredient. But adding gives a nutty flavour and crunchy bite in your sauce. Add the required amount of sesame seeds in a hot skillet, and toss it in medium flame, till it turns golden brown colour. Don’t burn it, maintain medium-low flame throughout the roasting.
- Since it’s loaded with vinegar and soy sauce, it has a shelf life of maximum 3 weeks in the refrigerator. You can double or triple the quantity and store it for future use and utilize it in various recipes.