Food Writing

The philosophy of Japanese cooking is to serve food that has retained as much of its natural flavour as possible. It is therefore essential to choose ingredients at their best – they should be very fresh and in season. If the food needs to be cooked at all this is done for the minimum time possible. The Japanese cook believes that vegetables are best eaten only very lightly cooked to retain their crunchiness or else salted a little to draw out the cold water of the raw ingredient. (from Japanese Food and Cooking)

	Chicken teriyaki ‘Teriyaki’ means to grill or braise with a glowing effect. The sugar content in the sauce gives the glow, so its slightly sweet taste makes the dish very popular with children as well as adults. The chicken can also be cooked on a barbecue. (from Street Café Japan)
	Serves 4 450g/1 lb chicken thighs, boned Cornflour Vegetable oil for pan-frying 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons mirin 2 tablespoons sake 2 1/2 tablespoons shoyu (Japanese soysauce) 4 spring onions, cut into 5 cm/2 in pieces Sea salt	1. Place the chicken thighs on a cutting board skin side up and, with a fork, prick the skin a few times (this will prevent it from shrinking during cooking). Lightly rub cornflour all over the chicken. 2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Put the chicken thighs in the pan, skin side down, and pan-fry until golden brown. Turn them over, lower the heat and cook, covered, until thoroughly cooked. 3. Skim any excess oil from the pan, then add the sugar, mirin, sake and shoyu. Spoon the juice over the chicken and gently shake the pan so that the juice spreads evenly. 4. In another pan, fry the spring onions in a little oil until tender. Sprinkle with a little salt. Keep hot. 5. Place the chicken thighs on a cutting board and cut crossways into 1 cm/1/2 in slices. Arrange on 4 individual plates, spoon over the cooking juice and garnish with the spring onions. © recipe copyright Emi Kazuko 2002