Do you know that delicious, sticky, sweet sauce that’s on top of the eel roll in a sushi restaurant? That’s Unagi (eel sauce) which is made of Mirin and soy sauce. Mirin is a Japanese, sweet cooking wine and although most frequently found as a dipping sauce for sushi, can also be used in many different recipes, like the chicken one I made. I’ve actually had Mirin hanging in my cupboard for a very long time and wasn’t sure what else except the eel sauce I can use it for. So I figured why not using it for a chicken marinade and sauce. When prepared that way it is very similar to another popular dish, chicken teriyaki, both sweet and salty with a beautiful glaze.

Ingredients (2 servings)

2 large (8 oz) chicken breasts
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Mirin
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Sambal Olek paste (optional)
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Mix soy sauce, mirin, sugar and Sambal Olek together. Cut chicken into 1 in cubes and place in a zip lock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag and zip the bag. Marinade for 1-2 hours.

Heat sesame oil in a wok or pan. Add content of a zip lock bag into the pan and fry on a high heat about 2 min, turning meat often until most of the liquid evaporated and chicken acquired nice brown glaze. Just make sure not to burn chicken or sauce.

Reduce heat to medium, add about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of water to the pan and cook turning meat occasionally about 5 more min until thick, sticky sauce has formed and chicken is nicely brown.

Sprinkle with finely sliced scallions and serve with rice and veggie side.