Soya Sauce and Chicken

Soya sauce and chicken always reminds me of Mum's cooking and it comforts me a lot. So, being down with a chest infection and craving some love, I hauled ass and set about making a large batch of teriyaki chicken to eat with rice. Also, being sick means no going out with the girls for their dedicated 'Time with Mummy' days (Zoe has Tuesdays and Mia has Wednesdays) - so I had to replace the time I was comatose in bed with (and this is a big mistake of course, because the adult supervision zapped me out) baking instead.



Here's Zoe - chef cum marine biologist extraordinaire, making choc chip cookies.

I didn't bother with a recipe but here's how we made them:

1.5 cups flour (sifted) - use self-raising for a softer cookie - I personally like the gritty bite of a shortbread-type pastry better.
125gms butter
0.5 cup brown sugar (you may want to add up to 1 cup if you want a sweeter cookie, or switch to caster sugar, which is sweeter)
(Mix the above with fingers till you get a lovely crumble.)
Add in one medium to large egg.
(Continue mixing till you get a kneady dough.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
(Continue kneading the dough till it's all worked in)

Use a teaspoon to measure out dough into your palm. Roll into balls, pat them with love flat onto a greased cookie pan. Press as many chocolate chips as you want into each cookie. Bake till golden brown in an oven at about 180 degrees Celsius. (Depending on your oven, adjust as necessary with each batch). We made about 30 cookies or so and they all disappeared within the day!

Love comes in many forms and it doesn't have to be fancy.

And so when it was Mia's turn - we just made jello. No less loved - inhaled within two hours.

Oh - if you want my soy sauce chicken recipe.

I didn't have Japanese teriyaki sauce on hand, so I made a variation of it with south east asian soy sauces. It has a bit more tang if you ask me, which I like.

Grab a bowl and put in some light soy sauce, dark soy sauce. More light than dark. (As much as will cover the amount of chicken you plan to cook - I used chicken breast fillets). Add honey, or a teaspoon of sugar. Squeeze of lime. You could also add in a dash of Japanese bonito soup stock for a heavier body, but this is optional.
Pour it over the chicken, mix, and leave to marinate for about 10 minutes.

Put a generous dollop of butter into the frying pan (you can also use olive oil if you want a healthier option, but butter is more comforting) and then pan fry the chicken fillets. If you don't allow too much sauce into the pan, it will allow the existing sauce on the fillets from the marination to caramelise nicely, and keep the chicken from getting that poached look, we're aiming for a pan-friend look here. :) When all the fillets are cooked, remove from the pan, and pour into the pan any remaining sauce. Allow the sauce to cook and caramelise a little, then pour it over the top of the cooked fillets. mmmm...

This chicken tastes mighty good with rice and some stir-fried veg and sambal belacan. Eat with hands and feel the loooove!