Simple Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Make It Yourself - Simple Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

It is so easy to make teriyaki chicken that I wonder what would be the need to buy this dish at restaurants anymore! Usually, Japanese restaurants will use two types of rice wine (mirin and sake) in making the teriyaki sauce.

However, if you prefer not to have wine in your teriyaki sauce - then you can simply omit this from the recipe, as I did.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons soya sauce
2 tablespoons honey
500g skinless chicken thigh meat
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon oil

Method

1) Mix the soya sauce and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.

2) Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Lightly dust in flour, shake off the excess.

3) Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add oil. When it is hot, add flour-dusted chicken pieces. Do not crowd the pan. When the bottom is golden brown, flip to the other side, cook for one minute. Remove to plate and continue cooking the rest of the chicken in batches.

4) Return all the cooked chicken to pan, pour in soya sauce mixture and let it bubble in the pan. Turn the chicken pieces to coat in the sauce. When the sauce has turned to a sticky glaze, turn off the heat.

Serves four.

How to Use Oil in Your Cooking

If you deep fry, as some Asian recipes call for, then you will want to know how to use oil the correct way. For instance, you should have answers to the following questions - How many times should oil for frying be used before you throw it away? How should oil used to fry different types of food be segregated? What should be done to keep oil clean and good for reuse?

If possible, for health and flavour concerns, cooking oil should not be reused. It has been generally agreed by food chemists that frying items in very hot oil produces small but definite quantities of potentially carcinogenic components. While their precise long-term impact on health is not known yet, it is better, if possible, to not reuse cooking oil.

Some of these compounds result from heat degradation of the oil. These factors cause oil to oxidise and deteriorate: heating it to a high temperature and/or keeping it over heat for a long time; frying salty foods in it; allowing tiny bits of food to remain in the oil; and prolonged exposure to light and warmth before or after cooking.

Therefore, just about any use of cooking oil will oxidise it at least slightly. Furthermore, the methods most likely to land you with a lot of used oil that you'd be loath to waste, such as deep-frying, are the same methods that are likely to cause the speediest loss of quality in the oil.

If you really must reuse oil, strain it through a fine mesh sieve and/or muslin cloth a couple of times to remove absolutely all food particles, then examine the oil.

Save it for reuse only if it is not much darker or more viscous than it was when fresh and if it has no off-smells. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It may cloud a little when it gets cold, but this is normal.

Also never mix oils from different bouts of cooking for reuse. Oil used to fry fish, for instance, takes on an odour. If, when you are heating the oil, the reused oil foams, smokes or darkens excessively, throw it out and use fresh oil.

Quick and Easy Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna is an Italian baked pasta dish made with alternating layers of pasta sheets, cheese, tomato sauce and fillings. The pasta sheet can be flat or rippled. Rippled sheets are common in the US, but not so in Italy.

Although it looks complicated, it actually is a rather simple and fast procedure that involves placing layers into a baking dish. The time consuming part is the baking time, which takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

The following recipe I created incorporates some Eastern spice flavors. I also do not add eggs as in a traditional lasagna recipe. The taste is remarkably delicious - juicy, saucy and filling. And since I add vegetables as well as the meat, I think it is a healthy meal.

Quick and Easy Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 box Mushrooms
2 lbs ground beef
1 can tomato sauce (containing oregano and basil)
1 box lasagna flat sheets
1 box Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Fresh spinach
Mozarella cheese
Olive Oil
Salt, Ginger and Garlic
All-spice powder

Procedure

1) Add some olive oil into a pan, then add the ginger and garlic, salt, all-spice powder, chopped onions and ground beef. Cook until the beef is properly browned.

2) Add the mushrooms to the pan, and stir for a few minutes. Then keep the pan aside.

3) Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.

4) Take out the baking dish, and spoon out some tomato sauce into the dish. Spread the tomato sauce all over. Then lay out the first layer of the pasta flat sheet. Use the type that does not require pre-boiling as it saves time.

5) Then spread out the pre-cooked beef. Add the frozen vegetables and fresh spinach over the beef. Then spoon out tomato sauce, and sprinkle mozarella cheese all over. Place second layer of pasta flat sheet on top of the cheese.

6) Repeat step 5 until the dish is almost full.

7) On stop of the last layer of the pasta flat sheet, pour out the remaining tomato sauce, and sprinkle mozarella sheet all over.

8) Cover with aluminium foil, and place into the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve the lasagna with fresh salad, and crusty bread.