If you like sweet and sour chicken, then this might be your cup of tea. Think of it as a "cold" version sweet and sour chicken, in a more refreshing way too.
Make-ahead chicken nanbanzuke (鶏肉の南蛮漬け) -
Ingredients?
- 90 grams chicken tenders
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- Some potato starch
- 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 packet Japanese vegetable dashi
- 150ml water
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1/2 medium carrot
- 1/2 bell pepper
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
How?
Remove the tendons from the chicken tenders. Slice the chicken to small bite size chunks. Use 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of rice wine to quickly massage in and marinate the chicken. Set aside and rest for about 10 minutes.
Once done marinating, pat dry the chicken with paper towel then dust with some potato starch all around.
Have a pan ready and drizzle 3 to 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, or just regular olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the oil warms up a bit.
Add in the chicken and don't move the meat early on. Wait till the bottom seems to set, ideally slightly golden before flipping and continue to sear the other side. Once both sides are golden and the chicken has been fully cooked-through, scoop out the chicken for later use.
Have a medium small pot ready. Pour in 150ml of water and add one dashi packet. Once drawing out the flavors, pick out the packet and turn-off the heat. You can simply use vegetable stock if available, just heat up 150ml of the stock but not up to the boiling point. Once warmed up, turn-off the heat too.
When the stock is still warm, add in 4 tablespoons of sugar, 5 tablespoons of rice vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Which till the sugar has been fully dissolved. Pour that to your choice of storing container that can be sealed tight with a lid.
Peel and thinly slice half of the onion, peel and julienne half of the carrot. Destem, pithed, and slice half of the bell pepper to thin strips. Transfer all of them to the container.
Add the seared chicken to the container too. Mix and make sure everything in there has been coated with the sauce. You can enjoy the dish as it is if really wanted to, otherwise seal tight and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours before digging in, preferably overnight.
It's absolutely fine if you would like to enjoy the chicken nanbanzuke right away. However, this dish usually served cold. Once taken out of the refrigerator, rest under room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
And that means chicken nanbanzuke is an ideal dish to prep ahead and enjoy later. Especially during hot summer days, the cold serving temperature pair with sweet and sour seasoning, quite an appetizing combo we got there.
Other Japanese side dish recipes:
- Baby sardines in Japanese sweetened soy sauce いりこの佃煮
- Japanese burdock root and pork stir-fry
- Kinpira gobo きんぴらごぼう
- Seared corn and seaweed fritters