This chicken dish is like my miso noodles, a cupboard recipe with only three ingredients as the title suggests. The hardest thing is deciding how to cut the chicken depending on how you’re cooking it, grilling it as I’ve made it above, stir fry or pan fry it. For me there’s a time in the week about one or two days before I need to push that awful supermarket trolley with the wheels that go in the opposite direction you’re pushing, making you counterbalance, twisting your back doing untold damage…anyway I digress…at this point in the week my fridge is bare, well almost bare, chicken breasts are sitting right at the back waiting for me to make them enticing.
You know you can’t delay the weekly shop any longer because your teenager comes home from school opens the fridge sticks face inside, looks at it for few seconds and mutters slamming door shut, ‘..there’s nothing to eat!’ And being riddled with guilt pangs if ever my children utter words to suggest they’re hungry…you see I have caught my Gran’s obsession of wanting to feed everybody. I open the fridge door and try unsuccessfully to convince her that there’s plenty to eat as long as it involves cheese and limp salad, half a lemon, ginger, yogurt and a mayo combo!
This recipe is for those times when I’m on my last chicken trying hard to think of what meal I should be making for the family….feeling sometimes like Winnie the Pooh sitting on the log saying to himself, ‘..think..think..think..’ with a frown on his face. I’m always buying chicken because it can turn into so many different meals and always struggling to find something to do because I get bored. I dream about making more time consuming dishes…like those that take longer than 15 minutes to prepare but that’s just not going to happen very often until youngest child stops following me around the house asking non-stop, ‘what you doing? What you’re doing mummy?’.
Longer Version of the Recipe
I’m giving two recipes here for the same thing. The second recipe has a longer list and that’s how this dish started. I went through my condiment cupboard trying to make an Oriental style dish trying to balance between saltiness and sweetness. So by all means try the longer version if you have the ingredient list. The cut down version with three ingredients means you don’t have to remember, you only have to grab two bottles and the ginger which can be exchanged for garlic or chili or omit completely.
Using Tofu Instead
I have also used this marinade using tofu and almost managed get Bikerboy to try it. At first he was intrigued but I didn’t quite succeed…he recoils at the word soya bringing back a horrid memory of Quorn. I’ve tried to explain tofu is a completly different product but it was no use. I marinated it for 30 minutes half way turning it over and grilled it, served on top of miso noodles.
Stir Frying
If I’m stir frying the chicken I cut them into small thin pieces.
Grilling Chicken
If I’m cutting the chicken breasts for grilling I’ll cut into slightly thicker pieces than I would for stir frying, I cut them as thick as a finger and all the way across the breast. Also choose breasts with skin on, apart from the good appearance it gives keeps the chicken moist while grilling.
Stir fry some peppers, carrots and spring onions while the chicken is grilling and served along with some rice, perfect balanced meal.
Chicken Marinated in Soy, Mirin and Ginger or Chili
4 Chicken breasts
Cut into small pieces for stir-frying slightly larger for grilling. If grilling choose breasts with skin on.
3 tablespoons / 45 ml of soy sauce kikkoman (if can’t buy it use light soy sauce)
6 tablespoons / 90 ml of mirin
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger or 1/4 teaspoon of mild fresh chilli
2 tablespoons of flavourless vegetable oil if stir frying
Combine all of the above in a dish and marinate the chicken between 1/2 hour – 2 hours. If left for the shorter time of half hour then increase the soy sauce by a tablespoon because chicken won’t be seasoned enough in that short time.
Stir-fry
Heat the oil in a hot wok at high heat and take out the chicken from the marinade (reserving the liquid for later) and add it to the oil. Stir around until the chicken is cooking through. If the chicken is getting too dry just keeping adding spoonfuls of the marinade. Depending how small your pieces are and how fierce your heat is the chicken pieces should be done within 2 to 3 minutes, you can tell when it’s done because the chicken will change colour on both sides and at that point you can break a piece in half and if the middle is creamy white it’s done.
Grilling
Pre-heat your grill for a good 5-10 mins before cooking. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and if you want you can skewer them but not necessary. Assemble them on the tray that will go under the grill skin side down first and turn the chicken halfway through cooking. Use the marinade to brush over the chicken pieces 2-3 times during the grilling.
Leftover marinade
I use any of the marinade left to stir fry vegetables with.
Chicken in Oriental Style Marinade
4 Chicken breasts
Cut into small pieces for stir fry or slightly larger for grilling, if grilling choose breasts with skin on
3 tablespoons of soy sauce Kikkoman (if can’t buy it use light soy sauce)
4 tablespoons of mirin
1 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon of fresh mild red chili
1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup or brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil – optional
1-2 tablespoons of coriander chopped – optional
2 tablespoons of flavourless vegetable oil if stir frying
Mix all of the above and leave to marinade the chicken for 1-2 hours. Stir fry or grill as above.
