Cooking Recipe: Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Spaghetti

I thought of having some fun, cooking something different and not with tomato puree or pesto. This may not be the conventional pasta dish; however I assure you it's full with flavour. It's light and smokey.

I had a friend coming over for lunch and the both of us were craving for some pasta. Instead of sharing with you some of my sweets, I like to steer away for a moment to share with you my lunch.

When I cooked this meal, I was thinking along the lines of fusion. Not quite sure what fusion is really all about but I think this dish certainly fits under the mixture of east meets west. Hence, it's fusion in my brain.

For chicken lovers, you might enjoy this dish as much I did. However, please be warn that there isn't a specific recipe to be honest. It's a couple of flavours concoct in my head, and transcend into my dish. The flavours of the pasta and chicken marry really well together. A perfect union in my opinion. If you love the smokey taste of teriyaki, do read on and cook yourself a lovely meal. Enjoy!

Recipe
approx. for 4 persons

Note: The amount of chicken specified is a rough estimation of consumption per pax. Please feel free to increase the amount of meat required. If you do so, make sure to increase the amount of marinade according to taste. Do not oil the griddle and always oil the meat. Also, make sure to rest grilled chicken fillets before slicing them. This will allow the juice to flow back into the meat. As for the amount of oil used for the spaghetti, that will be a rough estimation, as it depends on the amount of pasta you are cooking.

For teriyaki chicken

8 chicken fillets, or 4 chicken breasts slice into halves
6-8 tbsp Kikkoman Original teriyaki sauce
3-5 tsp honey
salt, to taste
black ground pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, diced
extra virgin olive oil

For spaghetti, aglio olio style

1/4-1/3 packet of spaghetti
4 tbsp, about 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
1tbsp butter
5 tsps ground cumin
5 tsps ground coriander
1 red chili, seeded and sliced thinly
3 shallots, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp sugar, to taste
a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1tbsp red capsicum and tomato chutney/ relish (optional)

To prepare teriyaki chicken:

1. In a bowl, or zip lock bag, mix all ingredients together to marinade chicken. Rub marinade onto chicken fillet, set a side and leave it to rest. For better taste, marinade the day before or a couple hours earlier.

2. In a smaller separate bowl, mix extra terikayi sauce, honey and extra virgin olive oil. This will be used later to coat the chicken fillet while grilling.

3. With a griddle, grill one slice of chicken fillet at a time. Approximately 4 minutes of each side or grill chicken until it's fully cooked. Using a pastry brush, brush the extra prepared marinade mixture over chicken fillet. This will help caramelised the chicken and seal in the smokey teriyaki flavour.

4. Transfer grilled chicken to a plate to rest before slicing.

To prepare spaghetti:

1. Cook spaghetti according to the instructions stated behind the packet. Or in a deep pot, boil water and add in salt to the water. When water is boiling, toss in spaghetti and cook for about 10 minutes. It should be al-dente. Strain away the water and pour some olive oil and drizzle some Worcestershire sauce over the spaghetti and mix it around. This will prevent the pasta from sticking.

2. In a separate pan, heat up extra virgin olive oil and butter together. This will prevent butter from burning. Cook cumin, coriander until they are fragrant (approx 1 min) and then immediately  toss in shallots, chili then followed by the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. If heat is too hot, it will burn the garlic; so do turn the heat down if required, while cooking all of the above.

3. Add in the tomato and red capsicum relish/ chutney and add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce. You should be able to see a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and from the tomato and red capsicum chutney/relish. Finish up by adding some salt, black pepper and sugar to balance off the flavours.

4. Turn the heat down and toss in the spaghetti. Give it a good mix and turn the heat back up and mix for another 2-3 minutes.

5. Serve while still warm and drizzle some of the teriyaki sauce from the chicken over the spaghetti, if you like.

xx