Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad (complete)
This recipe is for making Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad basically from scratch. The only things that you will use that is going to be pre-made will be the base liquids for the glaze and the salad dressing. But the rest will be done completely by you and you will probably have a tremendous amount of fun making this dish. Similarly to the other recipes in this section, the Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad takes about 1 hour for you to purchase the ingredients and 2 – 3 hours to make dish depending on how well acquainted you are with the dish. When my girlfriend and I made this dish Sunday she focused primarily on preparing the salad part and I concentrated on cooking and glazing the chicken. So if you can have a helper chef in the kitchen then this is a really enjoyable dish to make. Since there is division of labor, this salad is good for a date-type meal because you two can talk while cooking, without stepping on each others’ toes. This dish is slightly challenging to make, but it takes more patience and creativity than it does actual skill. So I recommend this for adventurous cooks who are adults. Young adults and kids should definitely ask their parents for help as head chefs on this one.
Before we talk about the ingredients, let’s discuss how many people this serves and what kind of cookware you will need. Since the Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad we made Sunday was for a large Pot-Luck party. We made enough to serve about 10-15 smallish/medium sized portions. To do that we needed several things:
1 x small saucepan: for making the glaze
1 x large metal pot: for boiling the chicken (This may seem odd but we will talk more about this later.)
1 x casserole dish or similarly sized item: for containing the chicken while you cut it into pieces before you start to glaze it (The dish will help make sure you don’t get water all over the place)
1 x large metal wok-style curved pan: for glazing the chicken
1 x large bowl for holding the cooked chicken
2 x cutting areas: for the lettuce and other vegetables
1 x large salad bowl: for the finished salad
PLUS: Forks and knives and spoons required for preparing and serving the salad. Also you’ll need a sink and a stove.
Next let’s discuss the ingredients for the salad. We purchased our ingredients at Bristol Farms here in Corona del Mar and the price for all the items was about $50 or so. But remember, in all likelyhood you aren’t going to serve as many people as we did so you can factor that into the price.
[remember to wash and dry all your vegetables]
2 x lettuce: crunchy Romain: Chopped into small edible pieces
1 x bunch of carrots: Peeled and shaved
1 x cucumber: Peeled and sliced into quarter inches
1 x red heirloom tomato: Ripe yet slightly firm
1 x yellow or gold heirloom tomato: again ripe yet slightly firm (the color variation is to add visual stimulation)
6 x boneless and skinless small chicken breasts (NOT FROZEN): These should weigh about 2 lbs. in total. If it is more or less than that, you need to adjust your poultry order accordingly
1 x jar of thick teriyaki marinade or sauce [The amount of each jar will depend on how sweet or flavorful you desire your chicken to be]
1 x jar of oily sesame marinade or sauce
1 x jar of oil based or vinaigrette sesame salad dressing
2 x handfulls of brown sugar
1 x small cupfull or packet of soy sauce
3 x pinches of salt
10 x pinches of pepper
1 x olive oil: You will use this for multiple purposes
1 x small bag of sesame seeds (white): this should not cost more than 3 dollars
OK. Since the best way to make this dish is with two people. I am going to tell you exactly how we did it. But if you are making it alone, you can always slice, shave, and chop the ingredients for the salad first. Then before mixing the salad, you can go ahead and work on the chicken.
Here’s how we did it:
My girlfriend washed and dried the vegetables. Then she chopped up the lettuce and peeled the carrots as mentioned above in the ingredients list.
In the meantime I started to boil some water in the large pot. This was going to be used for the chicken breasts. The reason why we boil the chicken first is because it makes it more tender. I learned this from listening to a pro talk about making tender BBQ ribs.
While the water is heating to boiling point. I put olive oil in the small saucepan and set the burner on high. After the oil got hot I added a generous amount of teriyaki marinade/sauce. After the marinade and oil moved around with the heat, I added a small glug of sesame marinade. (you should be stirring occasionally this whole time) Then I let that come to an almost boil and then I added a couple handfulls of brown sugar. The brown sugar is what is going to turn this from a marinade into a glaze. With the glaze we are making a reduction so be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. Now add a little salt into the saucepan and stir for a bit then lower the heat to minimal.
At this time your water in the big pot should be boiling and it is time to add the already washed chicken breasts. After all the breasts are in the pot, let the water to come again to a boil. Once the water has bubbles and you know it is boiling then start your timer for about 4 minutes. The flesh of the chicken should change to a pinkish-white color. After the four minutes are up turn off the water heat and remove the chicken carefully and place the breasts into the casserole dish. Make sure that you shake off the water from each breast or else use a serrated spoon to scoop the chicken. A little water in the casserole dish is OK but too much will be revolting and disturbing while you do your work.
Next, take a long fork and a long knife and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. The chicken at this time should be extremely tender and easy to cut. If you keep one hand steady with the fork and cut with the knife, making simple bite sized pieces should be simple. If the chicken is not tender then you probably started with frozen chicken and didn’t read the ingredients section intently enough. Now here is the fun part. When you cut your first couple pieces of chicken you will notice that the outside of the slice will be whitish pink. And the inside of the slice will be a darker color. The color differential should resemble searing. This means that you did your job well and you should talk to your companion that is working on the salad and show him/her how skillful you are.
After you cut the pieces of chicken it is time to take another look at your glaze/thick marinade. Turn up the heat on your small saucepan to a little more than medium. Wait until the sauce starts to move around and undulate and then add more teriyaki and salt. After a couple minutes add a few pinches of pepper. Then add the pack of soy sauce. Wait until the glaze turns into a liquidy saucy abomination that isn’t too sticky yet. And once you have a good amount of the stuff add some sesame seeds into it. Then after a couple minutes take a look at the amount of sauce and the consistency of it. At this point it should be relatively thick but not too thick. We want to reduce it later. (Reduction is just a sassy term for removing the water from something by boiling it for a while) Once you feel that you have enough sauce to saucify your chicken then get ready to move onto the next step.
Now add some olive oil to the wok pan and make sure to line the whole interior of it with olive oil. This will help prevent the items from sticking to the pan. Turn the heat on high for the wok and let the olive oil heat up. (be super careful not to burn yourself or splash hot oil in your face or eyes. Do all this stuff at your own risk and have fun be don’t get your butt kicked)
Once the olive oil is really hot pour all the sauce that you made in the saucepan into the wok. Then stir the wok gently on high heat. Wait for it all to come to a light boil. While waiting you should put the big pot of water and the empty used saucepan away in the sink and dump the water out.
Now that the wok is at a near boil, take a look at the liquid levels. The wok should be about one-third to half full of sauce. (this really depends on the size of your wok) If you have more than that much liquid you need to reduce the liquid until it comes to acceptable levels. Also you should make sure that the glaze/sauce is slightly thick with a little bit of gumption to it. It shouldn’t be molasses thick at this point tho. If it is, then that means you added too much brown sugar and you will end up caramelizing your chicken and that is for a different recipe in the future. But if you end up having this problem simply pour some of your sauce out and add more olive oil and sesame marinade until you get to a semi-thick liquid.
Teriyaki Sesame Chicken in glazing process
Once the sauce comes to a good level and appropriate thickness go ahead and add the chicken slices/pieces into the wok. The trick is to put the pieces of chicken in the wok on a single layer so that each piece is about halfway submerged in the liquid. If the entire piece is covered by the liquid then you have too much sauce and you need to get rid of some of it. Now there is an urge to immediately start stirring your chicken. Don’t do that! Let the chicken take a bubble bath in your glaze for a few minutes. If you added enough olive oil and followed directions earlier you shouldn’t have to worry about the chicken sticking to the wok. While you are letting your chicken hang out in the glazy sauce for a few minutes you should double check on your comrade and see how he/she is doing with the salad.
You might be able to lend a hand with cutting the cucumber or shredding some carrots. Or else you can clean some of the dishes and free up some space in the sink. This would probably be a good time to clean that casserole dish that you used to hold the chicken pieces a few minutes ago. After a few minutes have passed take another look at your chicken.
At this time you should stir the chicken around so the other side gets cooked. You should notice that the chicken is starting to look a little golden on the side that was previously submerged. Instead of tasting anything at this point, go ahead and smell the sauce and the chicken. Does it smell appetizing? Is it too sweet smelling or too salty smelling? If so make minor adjustments by adding a little bit of the teriyaki or sesame marinade until you feel confident that this thing is going to taste great. After a few more minutes at medium-high heat, you should start to see that the sauce is getting thicker and reducing. Also some of the pieces of chicken may be fraying slightly, like pieces of rope on a sailboat. If this is happening, that is a really good sign. Because later those frayed pieces will become partially caramelized and will add a tremendous amount of texture to the dish. The good news is: If you are mindful of the temperatures and make minor adjustments at this point and beyond, it is very hard to mess this salad up.
At this moment you should have been cooking the chicken for about 20 minutes. You can now take a couple small pieces of the chicken and put them on a small plate and let them cool. After letting them hang out for 6 minutes or so let your partner and yourself eat them. Gauge the flavor and sweetness of the chicken. Is it sweet enough? Can you taste the teriyaki or does it just taste like brown sugar? If you and your buddy both like the chicken then you are doing well. Technically, the chicken should taste good enough that you could be able to eat it over rice, even now. But remember, you are putting it in a salad. So it will need to be much more flavorful and textured in order to add contrast to the lettuce and salad dressing.
Lower the heat to medium and add pepper and salt to the chicken. Also add more teriyaki or sesame marinade to taste. (this is where your artistry will really show) Then let the chicken cook for another 20 minutes, while you stir it occasionally.
salad without the chicken yet
At this point your partner should be pretty much done with the salad. It should have carrots and lettuce and cucumber and tomato all chopped up and ready to go. Go ahead and mix them all together in the big salad bowl but do not add the dressing yet.
Now take another 2 pieces of the chicken out of the wok and after letting them cool down let your friend and yourself test them. If you both feel really strongly about the chicken then you can move on to the final stages.
Look at the sauce in the wok. There should be some separation from the dark liquid from a more clear liquid. That clear liquid is most likely oil and some water. If this is the case, then turn up the heat to high and stir in a generous amount of sesame seeds. The sesame seeds should speckle the chicken but not shroud them in it. Continue cooking the chicken until the frayed parts become dark brown and the chicken main parts become golden brown. If you see loose frayed pieces then stir them together with bigger pieces and let them attach themselves. Let the chicken be little poultry magnets of justice. Once you have the right color, taste, and texture remove the chicken and put it into your other clean large empty bowl. Let the chicken cool down.
Now that your salad is all mixed together, add some of the sesame vinaigrette salad dressing. Stir the whole thing. And make sure there is enough room to eventually add the chicken. Taste the salad with the dressing. It should taste like the salad is pretty good, but it is missing something.
Add the chicken that has been cooling down to the salad. And stir the chicken into the mix thoroughly. Once the chicken has been mixed in add a little more salad dressing to taste. And give it a try. If it tastes good then you have just one final step.
Wipe the edges of the bowl with a paper towel so there is no grease or oil at the rim. Then add a thin layer of sesame seeds to the top of the salad for decoration but don’t mix them in. GREAT! You just made a really tasty salad. Serve it however you want and enjoy!
Make sure you cleaned up and turned off all your burners and that stuff.
This style of cooking is incremental, so there are no real proportional rules. Just use your personal preferences and adhere to the rough measurements above as closely as you feel comfortable with and you should have a truly enjoyable time making this crowd pleasing Teriyaki Sesame Chicken Salad. Sunday this salad went over so well that we won 3rd place in a pot-luck contest with it. And we won some movie tickets. So if this is done right you may impress your friends.
-Tyler