by Joan Mccord

Created on: August 02, 2008

This sweet, soy-based sauce is ideal when a quick and delicious Japanese dish fills the bill.

Most often, honey teriyaki sauce is a glaze to finish and flavor grilled fish, thinly sliced beef, or small pieces of pork.

An Oriental salad approaches a new level of perfection when the dressing is seasoned in this teriyaki style.

HONEY TERIYAKI SAUCE

7 Tbsp sake
4 Tbsp honey

7 Tbsp dark soy sauce
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
7 Tbsp olive oil

Whisk ingredients together, store in jar with tight lid in refrigerator.

ALMOND-CRUSTED CHICKEN TENDER SALAD

Possibly my favorite Oriental salad, this mix of baby greens topped with crisp, almond-crusted chicken tenders and honey teriyaki sauce with a touch of orange is a perfect supper or lunch entree.

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken breast tenders
freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1 tbsp teriyaki-honey sauce
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup smoked almonds, chopped fine
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

6 cups mixed baby salad greens
2 oranges, peeled and cut into segments

To Make the Salad:

* Season chicken with pepper.

* Beat egg and teriyaki sauce in shallow bowl until well blended.

* Place flour in shallow dish.

* Combine bread crumbs and almonds in another shallow dish.

* Dust both sides of chicken with flour, dip into egg mixture and finally coat with almond mixture.

* In 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil over medium-high heat.

* Add chicken and cook 6 to 7 minutes until no longer pink in center. Turn once, adding more oil as needed.

* Arrange chicken and orange segments over salad greens and serve with Orange-Teriyaki-Honey Dressing.

PAN-GRILLED HONEY-TERIYAKI SALMON

The Sauce:

Add 1 tsp orange zest and substitute 2 Tbsp fresh orange juice for 2 Tbsp vinegar in basic sauce recipe.

The Salmon:

Over medium-high heat, cook salmon in grill pan or black skillet, using just enough oil to season pan.

When salmon is cooked to medium-rare, remove from pan and set aside.

Deglaze pan with about equal amount of teriyaki sauce and reduce slightly.

Return salmon to pan briefly (salmon will cook a bit more) to coat with sauce. Remove salmon to serving platter. Spoon small amount of sauce over salmon and serve. Garnish with orange slices.

PAN-GRILLED CHICKEN, PORK OR BEEF, TERIYAKI STYLE

Chicken tenders, and small tender cuts of pork and beef are all delicious when pan-grilled teriyaki style.

When cooked, remove temporarily from pan and add about equal amount of teriyaki sauce to juices in skillet.

Bring to a boil, stirring for a minute or so until liquid has thickened slightly and taken on a luster. Return meat to skillet and continue cooking, turning several times until meat is well-coated with teriyaki sauce.

Remove from heat when teriyaki sauce is almost completely reduced, a few minutes at most.

CONCLUSION

In Japanese cooking "teriyaki" refers to a sweet-soy-sauce-based glaze applied in the last stages of grilling or pan-frying foods that cook quickly.

This sauce carries an abundance of flavor, but when used with a light and calculating hand, produces some of the most delicious dishes around.

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