Teriyaki Chicken

When I was in Salt Lake City this last weekend with my daughter, we ate at Thaifoons restaurant in the Gateway mall. I got the Chicken Terriyaki, it was delicious! It has asparagus and broccoli in it, and this week I had noticed Asparagus was on sale... so of course I had to try to come up with a recipe like I had eaten in Thaifoons... I hope I got the measurements right, when I experiment in the kitchen I throw a little of this and a little of that into whatever I'm cooking until it tastes right.... I think this was pretty close! YUM!!

TERIYAKI CHICKEN

1 1/2 - 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

Marinade:
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce (found by the Asian food in most grocery stores)
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger (I love the tubes you can get in the produce section at Walmart)

Teriyaki Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
4 Tablespoons brown sugar (maybe a little more if you like your Teriyaki sauce a little sweeter)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced ginger
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder (optional-I threw this in at the last minute, liked the way it smelled)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
Vegetable oil
1 bundle fresh asparagus, washed, cut into 3 inch pieces
2 cups broccoli florets, if frozen thaw for a minute or two in microwave, cut the bigger pieces to bitesize
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
Hot cooked rice (either white or brown, choose your preference, sometimes I use Jasmine rice too)

Whisk together the marinade mixture in a large bowl, (don't worry this mixture will be kind of thick) Add the cut chicken breast pieces to the marinade and toss to coat. Set aside. (I usually let this sit for about 15 to 20 minutes)

While chicken is in the marinade start cooking the rice, (escpecially if using brown rice, it takes a while to cook) Wash and cut the Asparagus, and thaw out the broccoli florets.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add a Tablespoon or two or oil, add chicken and all of marinade and cook over med/high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until juices run clear and pieces are cooked through (cooking time varies depending on the size of the chicken pieces) In the middle of cooking chicken I cover with a lid for a couple of minutes, this helps the chicken cook all the way through.
While chicken is cooking, whisk together the ingredients for the Teriyaki Sauce in a small saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, turn heat down a bit and cook and stir until thickened. Then remove from heat. Set aside.
When chicken is done, remove to a plate, and set aside. Add about a teaspoon of sesame oil, and a dash of regular cooking oil to hot skillet add asparagus and broccolli and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until crunchy tender.

Then add the chicken back to the skillet along with the Teriyaki sauce and the 1 Tablespoon of sesame seeds (notice I added my sesame seeds while cooking the veggies.... wait and add them with the sauce and chicken, they popped all over the place). Toss to combine, cook another minute or two to heat the chicken back up.

Serve over hot cookied rice. Enjoy!