Cooking With Owen

Owen wanted to make Japanese for dinner last night so we dug out his Izakaya cookbook and trotted off to Green Onion for ingredients. After buying ingredients it turned out we already had at home (sigh) we came home and hung out for a little while before getting started. That is code for we started later than we should have so ended up aborting some plans and eating in front of the tv. However it was great fun and it was Friday night so what the hell.

I LOVED this dish. Now granted my pictures are lousy but it was lovely and light yet flavorful. Owen didn't care for it as much because he's more a fan of the sweeter/soy flavors. This has more a vinegar base than he liked but I really loved it. And if you don't forget to read the whole recipe so you see that it's supposed to sit for two hours before you eat, you don't have to eat as late as we did (not that we waited two hours mind you).

Chicken Nambanfrom Izakaya: Japanese Bar Food

3/4 dashi stock (I just bought the dashi granules and mixed them with water for this)
1/4 Japanese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar (I used regular although other times I grind it in a spice grinder to make it finer)
2 long red chilis, seeded and thinly sliced (we used green ones we had)
9 oz boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 1/4" pieces (we used boneless skinless chicken thighs)
1/4 cup potato flour (also labeld potato starch--we got this at Green Onion)
2 tablespoons oil
steamed rice, to serve

Combine the dashi stock, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Add the onion and chili and set aside.

Lightly coat the chicken with the potato flour. Shake off the excess.

Heat the oil in a larg frying pan. Add the chicken and cook, turning for 5-7 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Drain the chicken on paper towel and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Pour over the hot dashi mixture. Set aside for two hours to allow the flavours to develop.

Serve the chicken at room temperature with bowls of steamed rice.

We had a salad before hand, complete with Japanese carrots.....