.teriyaki wings.

One of my daughter's most requested meals - or snack - is my teriyaki wings. She loves loves LOVES them. (Did I mention she loves them?)

These are very simple to make and are an awesome change to your standard hot wings.

First, start by making the teriyaki sauce:

In a saucepan, heat 2 Tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, saute 1 tsp minced gingerroot and 2 Tbsp minced garlic for about 30 seconds to a minute. You don't want the garlic to burn so really you just want to saute long enough to release the flavor.

Add 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup water and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Whisk well.
*Note: If you want these wings a little kicked up, add more gingerroot and some red chili flakes.


At this point, I pour about 1/3 of this on the thawed party wings. You can find plain unflavored chicken wings in your freezer department. Thaw them in the fridge. You don't want to give yourself food poisoning. That would be no bueno. I put the wings in a large ziploc and pour the sauce into the bag. Seal it up nice and tight removing as much of the air as you can. This will marinate the wings giving the flesh that sweet and salty flavor that makes these wings very desireable. I recommend marinating the wings overnight so remember when you go to make these, to give yourself an entire day.

Reduce the rest of the sauce down until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and let cool completely and put in the fridge.


To Make: Completely drain all of the teriyaki marinade off the wings. Put the wings on paper towels and pat dry. You don't want sauce lingering on the wings because when they hit the oil, you'll get a lot of splattering and you might get burned.

Heat oil in a pot or fry daddy to 350*. Carefully add the wings and fry for 4 minutes, using tongs to move them around for even cooking. When they're done, remove from the oil, and place on paper towels to catch as much of the oil. Put the wings in a large bowl and drizzle in that thickened teriyaki sauce. I like to garnish with some fresh sliced green onion. It not only gives a little onion'y flavor, but it looks pretty on the plate. Using a spoon or your hands, mix all of that together in the bowl and then dump into a pie plate or some other kind of baking dish. Pop in a 350* oven for 10 minutes. This will ensure the wings are cooked through, and it will also heat up that teriyaki sauce.

When I make these for a party, I dump the wings into aluminum pie plates and then just sit the pans on a plate for added stability. This makes for very easy clean up! Something every hostess can appreciate.

So the next time you're looking for a delicious snack or dinner option, think wings. Think teriyaki wings! Enjoy!

.mongolian beef.

Mongolian Beef is a FAVORITE of ours when we go to P.F. Changs. A sweet teriyaki sauce coated on strips of tender beef and slices of green onion. Yummy! My sister, Marcia sent me the copy cat recipe for this years ago and I make it on occasion. It's not hard so I'm not sure why I don't make it more often! I hope this becomes a favorite in your home. :)

In a saucepan, heat some olive oil. Saute 3-4 cloves minced garlic and about 2 teaspoons minced gingerroot. If you don't have gingerroot, you can use ground ginger but it won't give you the exact taste.








Saute only a minute or else your garlic/ginger will burn. Quickly add:

1 c. soy sauce
1 c. water and
2 c. brown sugar

Bring this to a boil and then reduce heat to low.










Let it bubble and reduce for about an hour and half. You want this mixture to reduce to where it's really thick and syrupy and will coat the back of a spoon.

[NOTE: If you want to make double... triple the recipe, you can store this in a jar in the fridge for a month or two. Makes for quick meals especially if you don't have an hour or two to let the sauce reduce each time you want teriyaki.]












This is flank steak. About 2 pounds of it.

Holding your knife at a 45 degree angle, you want to slice the meat thinly.






Put the sliced meat into a ziploc and dump in about 1/4 c. cornstarch. Seal and shake to coat the pieces.

Heat oil in a wok or skillet on medium heat.










Carefully put some strips of beef in the hot oil and "flash fry" for 2 minutes.








Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel. Repeat until all the beef has been fried.












Put the fried beef, some sliced green onion, and the teriyaki sauce in a large bowl. Stir to coat. Transfer to a baking dish and put in a 350* oven for 15-20 minutes. This will allow the sauce to cook into the meat.







To go with this, I quickly sauteed some zucchini, summer squash, and red onion in some olive oil with minced garlic and gingerroot. To keep the veggies from burning, add a little water and soy sauce. Remove from skillet once the onion are nice and soft.

I also served the Mongolian Beef with steamed rice.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_25fvmknpd3

.teriyaki beef.

While we were in Seattle, we went out to lunch at a teriyaki place called Ono Teriyaki in Renton. It was sooooo delicious and they served the lunches in bento boxes. Loved that!

Ever since then I've craved teriyaki. Can't find teriyaki (read: good teriyaki) anywhere out here, so I decided to make my own.

Take some skirt steak (or flank steak) and put it in a ziploc. Dump in your marinade. I used Kikkoman teriyaki sauce, but I normally use Lawry's... and if I'm feeling really ambitious, I will make my own. Personally... the Kikkoman wasn't that great. If you don't want to make your own sauce, I really suggest getting the Lawry's teriyaki marinade.

Since the steak is thin, you really don't need to marinade it that long. Maybe an hour or two. Once it's marinated, remove from the bag and slice it into thin strips going against the grain.

Heat your frying pan and put in a little oil. (I use a wok.) Dump in your meat and fry it up. Pour a little teriyaki sauce in and let it cook into your meat.

Once it's cooked, stir in some sliced green onion.

Super fast. Super easy. Super delicious.

When I make teriyaki, I like making stir fry veggies. You'll need zucchini, summer squash, red onion, gingerroot and garlic.

This is gingerroot. It's found in the produce section of your grocery store. It is the root of the ginger plant which grows prevelantly in Hawaii. It's very very pretty. I love ginger. You want to peel the root with a potato peeler and then mince very very fine. You can use the fine side of your cheese grater if you don't want to mince. Mince up a couple cloves of garlic too while you're at it. Set aside.

Slice your zucchini, summer squash, and red onion. Put in a bowl.

Heat your wok or skillet. Pour in a little olive oil and heat. Put in the garlic and ginger and sautee for about 30 seconds.

Add your veggies. Saute until they're fork tender. You don't want these guys to burn, so sprinkle in a little soy sauce and/or water to keep moisture in the pan.

Serve this meal with steamed rice. This meal is pretty light and healthy! Enjoy!