37 + 38: Potato salad and teriyaki-grilled chicken (Page 104 and 138, Easy Japanese Cooking)

One of the things I miss about Japan is the bento boxes. Every morning we'd wake up at 8am (sometimes earlier) to the crisp winter air. In order to motivate ourselves to get out of bed we'd think about bento boxes or bacon and egg rolls and coffee at Starbucks. I can have Starbucks in Brisbane though. But I can't have the bento boxes they sold at the convenience stores. The ones in Kyoto had a lot more variety than in Tokyo. Every box filled with little dumplings, sushi, rolled egg, some rice and some fried chicken bits in such a simplistic and artistic manner with the fake grass piece, the sesame seeds and the colourful cupcake liners. However it was the boxes with the tiny serving of potato salad that I always went for. So I was really looking forward to making this Japanese potato salad. The mayo is just way nicer than the creamy substance that is often used to make potato salad. I used capsicum and potato to make my salad. It was so yummy. The potatos could have probably been mushier.

There are two pieces of teriyaki chicken in that photo. Why? Because when the recipe said I'd need teriyaki sauce my first thought was "finally I can use the rest of the half used bottle of teriyaki sauce I bought a while ago and have not used since". After looking more closely at the book I realised there was also a recipe for teriyaki sauce. That is why I have two pieces of chicken. It is so I can compare the recipe for teriyaki sauce (on the right) with the kikkoman teriyaki sauce (on the left). I didn't burn the chicken, but I did burn the teriyaki glaze which stuck to the pan and sort of transferred itself onto the chicken. Actually this was probably the only time I didn't over cook the chicken to the point of toughness. My verdict is kikkoman sucks! It was way too salty I had to wolf down 2 spoons of rice for ever tiny piece of chicken I took. While the teriyaki sauce recipe was perfect. You could actually taste the subtle sweetness without tasting like a dessert. The soy sauce was not so overwhelming like the kikkoman sauce. So there is a benefit to making your own sauces after all.