The Cap’n’s chicken — a guest post

This is your Cap’n speaking.

As mentioned here, I cooked for Shabbat last week.  In honor of this Shabbat, and to give you loyal readers a little recompense for our few days being down due to technical difficulties, here is my recipe for teriyaki chicken, which was a big hit with the kids (and the adults, too). 

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces, cut up to your preference (I had wanted just breasts, but the meat department was out when I went shopping, so I went with a whole chicken cut up into 10).

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Garlic gloves (2-3 per chicken), cut into slices

Medium-sized onions (1 per chicken), cut into wedges

Fresh ginger root (about the same volume as that of the garlic cloves), cut into slices

Carrots (about 3 per chicken), cut into sticks or coins as per your preference.

Two different kinds of teriyaki Sauce — one salty, one sweet.  (I find that the sweet teriyaki sauces you can buy are too sweet, and the salty ones not sweet enough for my taste. But when mixed, the mixture is always very tasty).   I have been known to use for the salty sauce a mixture of soy sauce, red wine, and red wine vinegar, though I usually just use either Kikkoman or Wan-Ja-Shan if I have them available.

Directions:

Rinse the chicken,  pat dry with paper towels, and arrange in baking pan.  Generously  sprinkle the garlic and onion powder on the chicken.  Strategically lay the slices of garlic and ginger, and the onion and carrot parts, on the chicken.  Liberally pour the two kinds of teriyaki sauces on the chicken (being sure to soak the strategically-placed roots).  Cover with tin foil and let soak in the fridge for a while.  (A couple hours would be ideal, but if you are like me and Shabbat is getting too close for comfort, even 15 minutes helps if you have it to spare).

Preheat oven to 350 (sea level) or 370 (Efrat level).  (That is roughly 175 or 185 in Celsius).  Bake (still covered in the foil) until done — I usually check at about 30 minutes, but by the time I take it out it has been closer to 45-50 minutes.  (For those non-regular cooks who might be trying this at home, it is done when you cut a big piece of chicken and any juices run clear, with no pink).

Since the chicken was cooked covered, and the teriyaki sauces provide liquid, the chicken comes out moist and tasty.  The roots also are yummy to eat, though the ginger is a bit sharp and may not be to everyone’s taste.

This chicken can either be served immediately, or refrigerated and re-heated for lunch.  It will go nicely with either rice or noodles.

Note: If you are having guests who are vegetarians (or are a vegetarian yourself), you can substitute firm or extra-firm tofu for the chicken.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!