Teriyaki Bowls

Chad and I both love Chinese- and honestly if you are in Draper or near Draper, or not even close, you should hit up Fong's for some AWESOME food. It is worth the drive!!

Anyway, we decided to try out some more Asian type foods. And one thing we always come back to is tempura. Now I love myself some Vegas Roll at Happy Sumo which is tempura dipped and fried, and it is divine! But Chad is squeamish about the raw fish, so we just recreated the also very yummy, teriyaki bowls.

I marinate my chicken overnight (or even a few hours) in either:

Veri Veri Teriyaki
Teriyaki Tukami Collection

I like either of these because they have great flavor and I personally love how the sauce is packed with sesame seeds. I have tried lots of other brands that are good too, but some are REALLY salty, almost like putting straight soy sauce on the chicken.

You can brown the chicken in a skillet, or obviously as the weather is getting warmer, grilling is a great option. Just make sure to baste the chicken with the marinade every couple minutes for the first half of the cooking time. (I also like to cook the left over marinade in a saucepan on the stove, until it gets thick and hot. I reserve it for serving)

Tempura Veggies- recipe adapted from FoodNetwork- Wolfgang Puck

You can use any veggies you like. We usually pick a variety with things like, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, squash, asparagus. Whatever sounds good to you with Asian flavors, is going to be yummy. Just make sure that all the veggies are cut relatively thin or bite size so they cook evenly. This recipe will batter up quite a lot of veggies. It will probably serve enough veggies for 6-8 people. I have even doubled it with great results.

1/4 cup rice flour
3 cups soda water, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Optional- dash of sesame oil (I like the toasted kind but it is pretty strong so just use a little)

Mix the rice flour and 1/2 cup soda water in a small bowl. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder and cornstarch into a medium bowl. Stir in the remaining 2 1/2 cups soda water, salt, cayenne and dash of sesame oil, if using. Add the rice flour mixture to flour mixture. Allow to sit, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.

When ready to make- dredge in batter and fry in oil at 375 degrees. I like to do one type of vegetable at a time so I can keep them in separate piles after cooking. Chad dislikes squash and gets a little bugged if he accidently eats one, so this way people just take the veggies they like.

I make up a bunch of rice, serve it in bowls. Pile some veggies on, add some sliced Teriyaki Chicken, and drizzled with the hot thickened sauce. You can obviously use the stuff right out of the bottle if you don't have any of your marinade left over or if you just didn't feel like cooking it down.