Decided to make Chicken Sukiyaki this weekend. Why? I stopped by Marukai and they have these prepacked trays with either beef or chicken along with chopped veggies and a pack of sauce. All you do is cook... for a price that is. The prep work that they do for you comes at a premium and even though the tray looks packed, once those veggies cook down it ends up as a single large serving. Therefore I just purchased everything individually and prepped it myself. First is the watercress (I wanted more than one serving so I chopped 2 bunches).
Next up were the 2 medium heads of napa or Chinese cabbage
Saute the puri-puri chicken breasts. What the heck is puri-puri chicken? It seems to be a proprietary processing of the breast - basically pre-brined with lemon juice and a salt seasoning - to supposedly keep the breasts moist after cooking. Why purchase pre-brined if I'm cooking in liquid anyway? It was on sale for $3.99 per pound - the regular chicken breast was $4.59 per pound. I'll probably try grilling these puri-puri breast when I fire up my grill to see if the brining makes any difference.
Then add the watercress
And the cabbage
Then finally add the konnyaku - I used both the white "linguini" cut and the thinner black noodles along with about 1/2 cup of the bottled sukiyaki seasoning (yes, I cheated and used bottled seasoning because Marukai wisely places bottle seasoning right above the pre-packaged trays)
All I need now is some sake to enjoy. I tried the Kaika Kazeno Ichirin Ginjo which had an earthier nose with a touch of mineral along with subtle white flowers and melon with a medium finish (this actually paired better with the tripe poke that I also purchased from Marukai).
And the Ohyama Fu-In Ginjo which had loads of ripe melon along with a touch of papaya and tropical fruits and a viscous mouthfeel with a very long finish. I'll probably continue purchasing this sake to try with rich seafood.
Okay, what's for dinner tonight?
Comments