Teriyaki Cod

For some reason, I don't cook fish very often. I think it is because I just have it in my head that fish is a bit fiddly to make. However an easy recipe and one of my favourite fish recipes is teriyaki cod fish. This dish is also perfect to put into your bento lunches. (To be honest, a good slice of cod fish is quite expensive here, so I don't make this that often.)

This is a slight update on the recipe I posted for this dish before- this is now my latest standard way for making all things teriyaki... 

Teriyaki Cod Fish
2 pieces black cod fish fillet
4 Tbsp soya sauce
3 Tbsp sake
3 Tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp sugar

1. Mix the liquids and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved. Marinate the fish in the liquid for 15 minutes.

2. Heat up a small frying pan, and add the fish. Leave for a minute, then turn over. When the fish is just cooked through, remove from the pan.

3. Pour the rest of the marinade into the pan, and let it bubble until the liquid has reduced and thickened into a sauce. Turn off the heat. Coat the fish with the teriyaki sauce and serve. 


Back to Bento

After a (long) break, I'm trying to get back to making bento - just a simple one, made with one of my favourite bento staples - Beef and Tofu meatballs (you can't taste the tofu at all, but adding tofu makes the meatballs juicy, even after it has been frozen and re-fried). Here, they have been glazed with homemade teriyaki sauce. The rest of the bento is just some edamame, a happy hard boiiled egg, and rice. Simple, but filling and tasty.

Teriyaki sauce
4 Tbsp soya sauce
3 Tbsp sake
3 Tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients together in a small frying pan, and heat over medium heat until bubbling. Keep the sauce bubbling (adjusting the heat lower if necessary) until the liquid reduces and thickens. Add the meatballs and coat with the sauce. (If you are defrosting the meatballs, make sure you fry them until the meatballs are fully heated through.)




Bacon & Asparagus Rolls

In addition to Ham n Egg Rolls, another roll that's easy to make and great as a bento filler is a Bacon & Asparagus Roll. You can adapt this dish and use the bacon to wrap many other things like vegetables, sausages, etc, but my favourite is asparagus. 

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Bacon & Asparagus Rolls

• Asparagus (you really need fresh asparagus here, not the canned variety)
  
• Streaky Bacon Rashers (streaky bacon works best as it is more malleable than back bacon, although the fat in the bacon means this isn't the healthiest of recipes)
  

(With 4 thick stalks of asparagus and 4 long rashers of streaky bacon, I could make 16 mini rolls, but this will depend on your asparagus, width and length of bacon rashers)

Teriyaki Glaze
equal parts of:

• Soya Sauce
  
• Sake
  
• Mirin
  
• Sugar
  

1. Wash and trim around 1cm (1/2 inch) off the base of the asparagus stalks.

2. Boil some water in a saucepan and when the water is boiling, add the asparagus. Turn down the heat and simmer for around 4 minutes, or until just cooked through. Drain and set aside.

3. Cut the asparagus into shorter lengths. I cut mine to around 5cm (2 inches) long, but go along with the original length of your asparagus as well (eg. cut it into thirds or quarters if more convenient).

4. Cut the bacon into shorter lengths. A good gauge is to make the lengths of bacon around twice the length of your asparagus stalks. Slice the bacon to adjust the width if necessary as well. (You may want to cut one slice first to test if the width and length are correct.)

5. Roll a strip of bacon around the asparagus. If you are using thick stalks, you can wrap the bacon around each stalk. If your asparagus stalks are thinner, wrap the bacon around 3 - 4 stalks. Put the rolls tightly next to each other in a small bowl (to help prevent them from unrolling). If the bacon unrolls too easily, the lengths of bacon are too short.

6. Make the teriyaki glaze by mixing equal amounts of soya sauce, sugar, sake and mirin. For a small batch of bacon & asparagus rolls, 1 Tbsp of each seasoning is sufficient. Pour the glaze over the rolls.

7. Heat up a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the bacon and asparagus rolls on both sides until the bacon is cooked and lightly browned. Baste the rolls with the extra glaze in the bowl as you are frying them. You can also cook the rolls on a bbq/cast iron grill/George Foreman grill.

 
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Teriyaki Chicken Meatball Bento

Another version of teriyaki chicken - this time, in a meatball. Meatballs are great bento fillers, and are very handy to have as part of your bento freezer stash. Make up a batch to freeze, so you'll always have a little something ready on days you need to make a bento in a hurry.

Also in the bento: potato salad, rainbow sweet n spicy peppers, zucchini fritters, baby corn and cherry tomato flowers.

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Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
(makes around 11 small meatballs)

150g chicken mince
7 Tbsp breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce (pre-bought, or make your own; see below)
1 large egg
light olive oil/cooking oil

extra teriyaki sauce (for glazing)

1. Mix the chicken mince, breadcrumbs, 2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce and egg together.
   
2. Heat up a little olive oil/cooking oil in a small frying pan on medium heat.
   
3. Scoop little balls of mince mixture into the frying pan. Fry on both sides until cooked.
   
4. Pour a little extra teriyaki sauce in the small frying pan. Turn the heat to medium low. When the sauce bubbles, add the meatballs, and stir to coat them in the teriyaki sauce.
   

Tips: For a quick and easy way of forming the meatballs, use a small ice-cream scoop.

If you are making the meatballs to freeze, after Step 3, remove the meatballs. Let them cool a little before packing into freezer safe bags. 

When you want to use them, defrost them in the microwave or in a small frying pan (with the lid on) over low heat until warmed through. Then turn the heat up a little, and add some teriyaki sauce to glaze the meatballs as per Step 4. (I got this defrosting tip from Just Bento).

Teriyaki Sauce

4 Tbsp soya sauce
3 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp sugar

Mix the above ingredients together and pour into a small frying pan. Boil until the liquid reduces into a thick sauce.

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Teriyaki Chicken Bento in 2 styles

Here's an example of how you can use similar ingredients to create two different bento looks - the cute and the more serious...

Firstly, the more serious-looking bento contains teriyaki chicken, zucchini fritters, along with a plain rice onigiri, blanched haricot beans, cherry tomatoes and baby corn. The little sauce container has some tomato sauce for dipping the zucchini fritters.

Now, taking those ingredients (and substituting the haricot beans for some rainbow sweet n spicy peppers, we have the second bento:

The plain rice onigiri has been moulded into a heart, and the fritters have turned into a dog, with the help of a nori (seaweed) face and baby corn ears. (There is a lack of green here, as I ran out of haricot beans, and had to use sweet peppers instead.)

This is another reason why I love to make bentos - there are endless design possibilities :)




Teriyaki Chicken

Teriyaki is a Japanese method of cooking involving food broiled/grilled (yaki) in a sweet soya sauce (tare). In Japan, fish such as salmon, mackerel or cod are often cooked this way. 

Teriyaki chicken is a favourite bento food item. It's saltiness lends itself to being eaten with plain rice, and it tastes great cold, too. One problem I find with preparing food for bento in advance is the re-heating before the bento is packed. The additional heating tends to overcook small bento-sized chicken pieces, especially for breast meat. So with that in mind, I tried to find a way of preparing this dish so the meat stays as juicy as possible, even with the re-heating. 

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Teriyaki Chicken

I use chicken thighs, as breast meat tends to cook too quickly and dry out. Of course you can use breast meat if you like. 

300g boneless chicken thighs (skin on or off)
4 Tbsp soya sauce
3 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sake
2 Tbsp sugar
light olive oil/other cooking oil

If you are eating the teriyaki chicken straight away, or are packing it directly into your bento:

1. Trim the fat off the chicken thighs and poke holes into the thighs with a fork. This allows the marinade to enter the meat more quickly.
   
2. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl, and add the raw chicken thighs. Marinade for a short while (5 mins is fine) as you are getting everything else ready.
   
3. Coat the base of a large frying pan with a little oil, and heat the pan on medium heat.
   
4. Lift up the chicken pieces and try to drain off as much marinade as you can, before adding the chicken to the hot pan.
   
5. Fry the chicken on both sides until just cooked (around 2 - 3 minutes).
   
6. Remove the chicken and set it aside.
   
7. Turn up the heat to medium high, and pour the marinade into the pan. Boil until the marinade bubbles and thickens.
8. Slice the chicken into smaller pieces, add back into the marinade and mix to glaze and coat the chicken (on low heat).
9. Serve immediately, or cool down and pack into your bento.
   

If you wish to prepare this dish ahead and keep it in the fridge for your bento the next day:

Version 1 (This takes slightly less time, but the chicken may be a little more cooked)

• Follow steps 1 to 7 (above).
• Then pour the marinade into a small bowl. Cover the marinade and plate of chicken (uncut) with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge.
• The next morning, heat up the piece of chicken in a small frying pan. Remove and cut into smaller pieces. Heat up the marinade in the pan, turn the heat off, and stir in the chicken pieces. Cool a little, then pack into your bento. 

Version 2 (Takes a little longer, but is the best way to keep the chicken juicy)

• The night before, prepare the teriyaki sauce by mixing the soya sauce, mirin, sake and sugar together. Heat up a frying pan and boil the sauce until it thickens. 
  
• Pour into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
  
• The next morning, poke holes into the raw chicken with a fork, then cut up the raw chicken meat into smaller pieces. 
  
• Add a little of the marinade into the frying pan, and fry the chicken until cooked. Set aside.
  
• Heat up the remaining marinade in the pan until bubbling, add the chicken pieces and mix.
  
• Cool a little before packing into your bento.
  

Tip: You can also use the teriyaki sauce to coat meatballs and grill/panfry cod or salmon fillets.

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Teriyaki Cod Bento

I love grilled teriyaki cod (gindara) and will often order it in Japanese restaurants. So it was only a matter of time before it found its way into a bento...

Bento contents: rice with furikake, tamagoyaki, rainbow sweet n spicy peppers, grilled teriyaki cod, and a kiwi fruit.

After using my black bento box quite often, I found myself thinking this blue box (my old favourite) is now looking a bit too garish. Maybe it is because the food in this bento is already quite colourful...hmm... and I realised that the little fish food pick looks like the ghost of the cod fish shouting "Don't eat me!". It was not intentional, really...

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Rainbow Sweet n Spicy Peppers

Despite the name, this dish is not spicy. I used green Japanese shishito peppers, which are 3 inch long, sweet-hot peppers. They are only slightly hotter than sweet peppers (capsicum), and not as spicy as chilli peppers. 

1 small red onion
1 clove garlic
1 yellow sweet pepper (capsicum)
1 red sweet pepper (capsicum)
8 - 10 shishito peppers, deseeded
1 tsp light olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
sea salt

1. Slice up the onion, sweet peppers (capsicum) and shishito peppers.
   
2. Finely chop the garlic.
   
3. Add the oils in a pot, and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes.
   
4. Add the rest of the peppers and fry until soft.
   
5. Sprinkle a little sea salt over the peppers for added flavour.
   

Tip: The colours in this dish look amazing right after they are just fried. However, after a day in the fridge, the colours fade (especially the green of the shishito peppers). For best colour effect, fry and pack directly in your bento.

Teriyaki Cod
Grilling or pan-frying fish is really very easy. The most important part is not to overcook the fish.

2 small cod fillets
teriyaki sauce (pre-bought, or make your own by mixing 2 Tbsp soya sauce, 1.5 Tbsp mirin, 1.5 Tbsp sake and 1 Tbsp sugar together)

1. Marinade the cod fillets in teriyaki sauce for 10 - 15 minutes.
   
2. Grill the cod for 1 - 2 minutes, or pan-fry the cod until just cooked. (The fish will continue to cook a little) 

Tips: Some ways to check if fish is cooked - press the fish down lightly (the flesh should feel firmer when cooked); insert a fork into the fish to see if the fish meat "flakes"; note the change of colour in the cross-section of the fish as you cook it. The colour of the fish will change from a translucent jelly colour to a matte colour (this method works well with salmon fillets). 

It is fine (and more tasty) to leave salmon fillets slightly raw in the middle, but please ensure your salmon is from a good quality source if you plan on doing this.

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