On evenings where there isn’t much on television and we can’t decide on something to stream from the myriad of services we subscribe to, Joey and I will often find ourselves scrolling through our respective social media feeds, sending each other funny or interesting videos from our spots across the couch from one another.
Quite a few of them tend to feature new recipes. I send him videos of delicious food to make on a smoker or grill, and he sends me a variety of dishes he thinks I ought to try.
Such was the origin of this week’s recipe. After watching the video for this dish probably 20 times, I finally had the ingredients and the procedure figured out, so the good news for you is that it’s all here now, in writing.
This came from an online video by Gideon General. You can find him on Instagram @gidsgids. I added extra garlic to my version.
Chicken Teriyaki
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil divided
- 2-4 boneless chicken thighs
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger minced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup sake rice wine
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- Trim any excess fat from the chicken thighs and season them with salt and pepper.
- In a skillet with a lid, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook for five to 10 minutes or until the chicken is nicely browned on one side. Flip the thighs over and saute for another five to 10 minutes, with the lid on, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- While the chicken cooks, add the other tablespoon of oil to a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the ginger and saute for three to five minutes. Toss in the minced garlic and saute for a few more minutes until it is very lightly browned.
- Add the rice vinegar, sake, soy sauce, half-cup water and sugar to the saucepan. Stir to combine, and raise the temperature to medium-high to bring the mixture to a boil.
- In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with three tablespoons water.
- Once the mixture in the saucepan is boiling, stir in the cornstarch. When it is again boiling, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sesame seeds.
- Pour the sauce in the skillet with the chicken (lid off), and let it cook down a bit to thicken the sauce, making sure to baste the chicken in the sauce as it cooks. After a few minutes, serve the chicken, along with extra sauce. We had ours over fried rice.
The leftovers we had from this were also out of this world. Those we ate over white rice, and it was a great combination, too. We also sauteed some bell peppers and mushrooms to go into the sauce with our leftovers, and it was an excellent addition, so I highly recommend doing that if you want to stretch your meal a little further.
And I finally got something good out of social media for a change, which I appreciated. The only drawback to trying to glean a recipe from a video, though, is after watching beautiful, perfectly cooked chicken over and over and over again, you get pretty hungry.
This piece first appeared in print on June 1, 2023.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
