Make-Ahead Chicken Nanbanzuke (鶏肉の南蛮漬け)

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

English Tea Style Cucumber Sandwich

Not related to recipes at all, just want to share that recently I've been watching some bird-related live streams while doing chores or playing with my phones at the same time. Like when washing dishes, I'll have my laptop on the side with live streams on. Here is one of the channels I've been watching Big Bear bald eagle live nest. It's actually quite therapeutic if you ask me.

English tea style cucumber sandwich - 

Ingredients (about 6 servings)?

• 6 slices white toasts
• 1 yellow lemon
• 2 to 3 English cucumbers 
• Small bundle dill
• Small bundle chives
• 8 oz or 226 grams cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Some salt

How?

Remove the cream cheese from the fridge first and transfer 8 oz to a medium bowl. Wait till it softens. Chop the dill and chives, we will only need the leafy part for this recipe.

Trim-off both ends for the cucumbers. You can shave the cucumbers or thinly slice it. Doesn't matter which direction to slice into because in the end I'm going to chop the cucumber into smaller cubes for the sandwich. Not the typical way to prepare English cucumber sandwich but I kind of like it.

So transfer sliced cucumber to a bowl and use 1 teaspoon of salt to massage and marinate it. Rest under room temperature for about 20 minutes, until some moisture has been drawn out.

Once time's up, really squeeze hard to get all the liquid out from the cucumber. Dice into mini cubes and set aside for later use.

As for the cream cheese bowl, also add in 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of chopped dill, 1 tablespoon of chopped chives, zest from 1 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix till evenly blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Spread the cream cheese mixture to one side of the toast for all 6 square white toasts. Arrange chopped cucumber on top for 3 of the toasts. So for every one toast with the spread and cucumber, top with another toast with the spread only, making sure all the seasoned side facing the inside, the center direction.

Trim-off the toast edges. You can just use a knife and press down, don't saw back and forth since it might rip the edges and ruin the shape of the sandwich.

Slice the square sandwich in half, so it'll either become two rectangular sandwiches or two triangular sandwiches, whichever shape you prefer.

About the mayonnaise used in this recipe, I used the English style mayonnaise, not the Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. However, if you only have the Japanese kind available, the flavor shouldn't be off too much in the end. 

So back to the bird-related live streams, the Big Bear Lake bald eagle channel seems to be on all the time, and it's been on for a long long time already.

Hope such live stream will raise some awareness in regards to animal's natural habitat and preservation topics. Meanwhile, seeing these wild life prosper is such an amazing feeling, a cheerful boost while doing the daily routine chores. 

Other sandwich recipes:

• Cured ham open-faced sandwich for two
• Roasted tomatoes Serrano ham and burrata pesto sandwich
• Food I love and miss back from high school years - sloppy Joes