Japanese Mum's Chicken

Submitted by JustJanS

"We have a Japanese girl, Tomoko, living with us, and tonight she and I cooked a Japanese dinner for us and her friends. She phoned her mum,Toshiko, in Japan for this, as it's her favourite recipe, and I wanted to share it here. It's simple and so good, and Tomoko, who is only 16, did such a good job of cooking this, then translating the recipe to English for me. *The liquid will thicken to a glaze if you are patient. It just takes a bit of time. If you feel your chicken is cooked (and going to overcook) remove it before going on to reduce the liquid. Same thing, if you must use breast meat, remove it (so it doesn't dry out) and continue reducing the liquid . If you do it this way rather than thickening with cornstarch you will get a richer glaze and not need to add stock or broth instead of the water. It just takes patience. AND NOTE: A glaze is sticky and coats the meat, this is NOT a sauce."

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Ready In:: 45mins
Ingredients:: 7
Serves:: 4

ingredients

8 chicken drumsticks, skin on (the skin is important for flavour, and is so tasty to eat!)
1 cup water
¹⁄₂ cup balsamic vinegar
¹⁄₃ cup soy sauce
2 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons sugar
1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised
1 small hot chili pepper, slit open, seeds removed

directions

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove any scum that rises to the surface.
Increase the heat, turning the drumsticks frequently in the liquid, and cook until the liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze.
Arrange the chicken on a serving platter, remove the garlic clove and chili from the liquid, and spoon the glaze over.
NOTE It's a glaze rather than a sauce, so there's not a whole lot of it.

Questions & Replies

Does anyone here know if JustJanS is still on the site or how she's doing? I really wanted to get in touch with her about this awesome, viral recipe.

pearliegirlie
How would you adjust this for a slow cooker??

Gary L.
If I use chicken thighs, how many per this recipe and how long do I cook? Thank you

Marilyn C.

Reviews

For those who want EXTRA SAUCE/GLAZE read here! I wanted to serve the chicken over rice but I wanted it to be saucy. I doubled the ingredients and did 10 drumsticks BUT I threw it all into a crock pot. I didn't want to have to stand over the stove so the crock pot was great! I let it cook for 4 hours on low, and next time I would throw in some thighs and maybe even breasts. There was sooo much extra sauce, that it almost needed more chicken. My husband and kids loved it, the sauce is delicious even by itself over rice! The crock pot made the chicken so tender it was just falling off the bone. I eventually did take all the meat off the bone, put it over the rice and spooned the sauce over..YUMMY! Definitely a recipe that will stay with me forever, I even posted the recipe from this site onto my Facebook status as "Tonights Dinner!"

KristieKatz
I'm here to rave about this recipe too! This is nearly always what I look for in a 5-star recipe - maximum flavour derived from minimum effort - and the effort for this recipe is practically nonexistent. I skillet-toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled these over the chicken pieces before serving. Steamed rice and oven-roasted brussels sprouts were the yummy others. One thing I might do next time though, if I have a bit more time, is to brown the chicken pieces first - just to get a bit more attractive colour.

evelynathens
Just a thought for those of you who had difficulty getting your glaze to thicken. Dark meat that has not been skinned contains a lot of fat. As you cook the chicken this fat becomes liquid (a liquid which will not reduce no matter how long you continue to simmer you sauce) You may want to try grilling or other wise cooking the meat prior to adding it to the glaze. You can then drain off the resulting fat. This should enable you to thicken your glaze with greater ease and it will also reduce the saturated fat that the meal contains. Additionally, if you have the time you can put the sauce in the oven at 375 for half an hour to 45 min prior to starting your dinner. This will further reduce the reduction time. Again, just a thought.

hillyar2
What a wonderful, easy meal! This definitely falls into the "finger lickin' good" category for me. I followed the directions exactly and had no problems at all making this. I served it with basmati rice, green beans and baby corn. There was enough leftover glaze from the chicken to drizzle over the rice. Next I plan to try this with chicken wings. Thanks Tomoko and Toshiko for a truly outstanding recipe :-)

Sackville
I used 6 skin-on, bone-in breasts, but halved them and browned them in a little olive oil. Drained the oil, added the sauce (doubled), and then removed chicken when it was almost cooked through. Reduced the sauce over high heat, which did take a good half hour or more, but once it starts to thicken, it thickens quickly. Added the chicken back in the pan and covered with sauce and cooked until chicken was done. Delish! my family loved it, and thought it smelled great while cooking. I used 3 cloves of minced garlic and about a tsp of red pepper flakes for the doubled sauce. Served with some broccoli and yellow rice. Will definitely make it again....really yummy!

stacya100

see 908 more reviews

Tweaks

cooked chicken and sauce separately for awhile to remove fat. Added minced garlic instead of whole bruised clove. Used a few dashes of cayenne instead of a whole hot pepper.

Shelly Morton
I used garlic powder instead of cloves and siracha in place of the pepper.

MissMia
was scared to try this because i have never eaten chicken with boiled skin. sounded gross... but loved this. couldn't get myself to do a full half cup of vinegar (only used 1/4 cup). used a teaspoon of crushed red peppers instead of the chili pepper. and i used thighs (cooked for 40 minutes instead of 20). i used sesame seeds on top as another commenter suggested, and wished i hadn't. they kinda ruined the taste, but without them it was awesome.

torrrrrrrrrrrrr
Just to add my 2 cents...This is good stuff!! I use thighs instead of legs and hot sauce instead of the peppers. This last time I was out of fresh garlic so I used 2 teaspoons of Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic. It didn't change the flavor at all.

MSZANZ
I used 3 skinless, bone in thighs for half the sauce. Subbed pineapple juice for water, added more garlic and a knob of ginger. Added 1/2 thick sliced onion and 5 baby carrots. Cooked 30 minutes, stirring and turning every 5 minutes. Cooked white rice 18 minutes in chix stock with a few sliced carrots and celery. Let stand covered 10 min off heat. After 30 minutes, I covered the chicken, off heat, for 5 to 10 min. Took the meat off the bone and added back to the pot with the rice. Discarded baby carrots for another use, called snacking. Mixed it all. It was good, but not pretty. Next time I will serve the meat and rice separately.

Lynn L.

see 61 more tweaks

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

JustJanS

224

<img src=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--qzFlPmoBZk/TbKPpmzGD6I/AAAAAAAAByw/w4d1ZAk6Tmc/s400/BILD4983.JPG alt= width=400 height=300 /><img src=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uP9r5mIQTLU/TVSdwtrfzeI/AAAAAAAABvc/6wIdCGjwJL8/s400/untitled.jpg alt= width=400 height=300 /><img src=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pdWKI9ofcqY/TVSaUgSfLYI/AAAAAAAABvU/vsThm3lL7TE/s400/untitled.jpg alt= width=400 height=300 /><img src=http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=6904575&fbid=464057497463&op=1&o=global&view=global alt= /><img src=http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=6904575&fbid=464057497463&op=1&o=global&view=global alt= /><img src=http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=6904575&fbid=464057497463&op=1&o=global&view=global alt= /> <object width=288 height=192 data=http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf type=application/x-shockwave-flash> <param name=data value=http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf /> <param name=flashvars value=host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fjanandruss%2Falbumid%2F5047998773731621633%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DoiWHiLPpkPQ /> <param name=src value=http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf /> </object> <img src=http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=6904575&fbid=464057497463&op=1&o=global&view=global alt= /> Thanks for visiting my page and thanks too to any of you who take the time to make, review or photograph one of my recipes. 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The night Russ and I met, we stayed up until 6am talking about food and wine and 18 years later, we are still doing it!  This mutal love of food lead to a huge weight gain for both of us (both around 110kgs) so at the end of March 2010, I  decided enough is enough and  embarked on my own weight loss program. We've reduced fat intake and protein portions, upped fibre (so lots of fresh fish, veg, salads and a bit more fruit), reduced alcohol and stopped snacking (unless it's a piece of fruit or a pickled onion or cucumber). I have lost 33 kg (or around 72 lbs) to date (August 2011)and  I've gone from an Aus size 24 (US 20) to my current 14/16 (US 10/12) I'd like to lose a futher 8 kgs, but one step at a time! Russ  has lost 38 kg so is the lightest he's been since arriving in Australia 32 years ago! I  get a shock these days when I do the laundry cos his clothes are so SMALL!!! People often say they are amazed because losing weight is so hard but I'm amazed at how easy this is. 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