Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Ginger Lime Chicken with Black Sesame & Persimmon salad

My kids and I had a layover in Tokyo before heading home from California, so we stayed in a hotel for the night. I was jet-lagged, and being in a 200 sq foot room where the bed takes up much of the  living space didn't help me get any beauty rest either, as soon as the sun cracked, I had the TV going so I wouldn't panic in the small room. I can't understand Japanese, so my daughter was filling the gaps for me.  







It was an early morning talk show on ginger, and how to cook with ginger. Well, I didn't necessarily follow the recipe, (the only thing I understood was mixing ginger, miso and the korean red pepper paste), but I got the gist of a ginger honey chicken recipe. I made it last night, and kids & hubby couldn't stop eating it. They were fighting over my chicken, eventually surrendered mine to my eldest son. I also made persimmon cucumber salad with bibb lettuce.  I love persimmons, they are so sweet and nutty, but my kids hate it until they came home one day from school and told me how they loved eating persimmons! If mommy isn't feeding it, they love it. So, since they're in season, I diced up some fresh persimmons,  and cucumbers on a bed of bibb lettuce.
Don't judge me for cooking white rice, I didn't have time yesterday to cook brown rice for 2 hours!
I admit, white rice taste better too! :)



Recipe to follow: (30 mins tops)
Serves 5-6

Spicy (or Mild) Ginger Lime Chicken with Black Sesame

3 lbs of chicken tenderloins or breasts (set aside)
2 heaping Tbs of Japanese Miso (Korean Miso is a bit too pungent for this recipe).
1 Tbs of Korean ggo-chu-jang (Korean red pepper spicy paste), You can omit this if you can't eat spicy, or if you don't have this, you can add 5 tbs paprika.
4 Tbs of sesame oil
3-4 Tbs of finely chopped ginger ( I throw mind in my small processor).
2 Tbs of garlic.
2 Tbs of brown sugar
3-4 slices of lime for garnishing, and more to squeeze. (no more than a total of 1/2 lime)
3 Tsp. of black sesame to garnish in the end.

Mix the above ingredients from miso to brown sugar, and add the squeeze of lime juice so it becomes a paste.  It should be a sweet-salty paste. Marinade with the chicken on a shallow dish, refrigerate couple hours. (but you can skip the couple hours if you are in a hurry, just make some slits on the chicken and make sure you massage the chicken with the ginger miso paste)

Heat your iron skillet medium high, drizzle 1 tsp. of grapeseed oil. Lay chicken and let it cook on the skillet, 3 minutes per side. Cut through to make sure you cooked it all the way through, careful not to overcook it.  Lay the cooked chicken on a dish with limes to garnish and black sesame.

Persimmon Cucumber Salad:
Head of bibb lettuce (my lettuce in Japan wasn't quite the the same bibb lettuce you get in the States).
2 firm orange persimmon, cut into small quarters.
2 kirby cucumbers, sliced.
optional to add: salted almonds.
Mix and chop the salad

Standing  Grace's Dressing: (this is the dressing I always make for the family, it's simple and fast)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of grapeseed oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic crushed
4 tbs of honey
combine in a cup, and be sure to shake it in a dressing bottle so the dressing emulsifies.