Japanese food provides the perfect opportunity to get young’uns involved with the prep and cooking!

CHICKEN WITH HOMEMADE TERIYAKI SAUCE

Serves 2

Homemade teriyaki sauce is easy to make and tastes more delicious than store bought - once you’ve made your own, you’ll never revert to readymade again! This dish is perfect served hot or cold and using chicken thigh meat ensures they stay moist.

2-4 chicken thighs, bone and skinless, 2-3 fresh red radishes – grated Steamed medium grain rice to serve Shredded cabbage to serve

Teriyaki Sauce

1 TB cooking oil (I use rice bran) 1⁄2 cup light soy sauce
 1⁄4 cup mirin
 3 tsp sake

2 Tb caster sugar

1. In a bowl mix the teriyaki sauce ingredients together and add the chicken thighs, making sure they are well coated in the sauce. Leave for 15 minutes to infuse. Whilst this is happening you can cook the rice, grate your radish and shred the cabbage.
2. To cook the chicken, heat the oil in a pan to medium heat, add the thighs (leaving the sauce in the bowl) and brown on one side and then turn and continue cooking until just cooked through (7-10 minutes). Turn the heat down to low and add the sauce to the pan, covering immediately. Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken and glaze the chicken. Baste a few times. Remove thighs and allow to rest of 5 minutes before slicing into thick slices.
3. Drizzle any remaining teriyaki sauce over the chicken and serve with small bowls of the grated radish, shredded cabbage and a bowl of rice.

TEMPURA VEGETABLES Vegetables
 Here’s some of my favourites: Spring onion – cut into 3 cm lengths Broccoli - cut into small florets

Red capsicum – cut to thin strips Kumara/sweet potato – thinly sliced Green beans– left whole

Batter

1⁄2 cup flour
 1 Tb cornflour
 1 egg yolk
 1⁄2 cup iced water

In a bowl, mix the flours together. In a cup, whisk the egg yolk into the iced water. Start adding the water/egg mix to the flour, mixing lightly with chopsticks as you pour, adding only enough liquid until to have a batter the consistency of slightly thick pouring cream. Don’t over-mix – lumps and a ring of flour around the bowl are signs of a good tempura batter!

Dipping sauce

3 Tb soy sauce
 2 Tb mirin
 2 tsp grated fresh ginger 1 Tb grated fresh radish 1 Tb lemon juice

Mix all together and serve in a small bowl.

To cook tempura vegetables: In a small pot, heat 5 cm of rice bran oil to medium-hot. Dip a piece of vegetable in batter, drain the excess, then slip it into the oil (I use chopsticks but you can use tongs or a fork) - it should immediately “fizz” and float to the surface. If it sinks, the oil is too cool. If it browns too quickly, it is too hot. Tempura is meant to be very light in colour, not golden. Keep adjusting the temperature as you cook for best results.

Cook vegetables in batches.