Benjy Blog

Japanese theme night

Japanese chicken
Japanese chicken

Welcome to the Japanese theme night we did last weekend!! I made another video for the  2 recipes in this post. see below and enjoy!!  We made chicken teriyaki, you can make this on kebab sticks and cook it in the oven or under the grill but this time we used a wok and served it on the side. We also made sushi with a selection of fillings, all served with soy sauce and if you are my Daddy, lots of wasabi paste! My parents had edamame beans with their chicken too.

Recipe 1 - Easy teriyaki chicken from BBC Food

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
  • 50g runny honey
  • 30ml light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds , to serve
  • 4 spring onions, shredded, to serve
  • sticky rice, to serve
  • steamed bok choi or spring greens, to serve

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Method

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken and fry for 7 mins, or until golden. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 2 mins. Stir in the honey, soy sauce, vinegar and 100ml water. Bring to the boil and cook for 2 - 5 mins over a medium heat until the chicken is sticky and coated in a thick sauce. It is ready!

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Recipe 2 - Sushi rolls

Ingredients

1 cup of sushi rice

2 cups of water

¼ cup of rice vinegar for sushi

1 Tbsp of sugar

1 tsp of salt

Nori wraps (these are the thin seaweed sheets) OR Rice paper rolls (these are what me and my brother like having as we are not turtles)!

Filling options:

Fish - make sure it is as fresh as possible if using raw fish - we didn’t! You could use tinned tuna and salmon for children

Thin strips of cucumber, carrot, red pepper, avocado, omelette egg strips, anything else you fancy! Japanese crispy onions, Japanese mayo etc

Method:

First of all, rinse your sushi rice in a sieve until the water runs clear.

Add your rice to a saucepan with double the amount of water. We left our rice to soak for 30  minutes but you do not have to. Turn on the heat and when the rice is boiling, cook for about 10 minutes, then turn off the pan and leave for 15 minutes WITHOUT opening the lid of the pan.

Whilst you are cooking the rice, get another saucepan and add the vinegar, sugar and salt and briefly boil. Leave to cool.

When the rice is ready, empty into a large bowl or dish and pour over the vinegar seasoning you just made. Keep stirring the rice to help cool it down and leave to get to room temperature - you can fan this or keep turning it over regularly.  It is advised not to put it in the fridge.

Once the rice has cooled, you can start to assemble your rolls with whatever fillings you have chosen! You can use a sushi mat, but you don’t have to! My brother and I like rice paper wraps which you soak in water for 15 seconds before rolling, they get very sticky but are fine when rolled up!

Enjoy your Japanese theme night!