Some of my students wanted a recipe that was simple to make, inexpensive and could be made on a work night. So I created a Chicken Teriyaki with homemade Teriyaki sauce and I also showed the class how to make Japanese Potato Salad. I used skin on chicken thighs and showed the class how easy it is to bone out the thighs, making the dish very economical. Why not sign up for classes, they are fun relaxed and friendly, contact me for details.

There are many reasons I enjoy teaching others to cook via my online classes, but perhaps the biggest is the challenge to come up with new recipes every week. Often dishs that I have never tried to make myself.  In this week recipe I made Japanese potato salad, so my starting point to go read a bunch of recipes out there and use my culinary experience to improve them. Many Japanese potato salad recipes use a starchy potato and then roughly mash the potatoes before adding the other ingredients.  I felt I could get a better flavour and texture by using baby potatoes, cooking them gently until tender then mashing ¼ of the potatoes keep the rest in regular sized pieces you’d expect in a potato salad.   Using my “Remi” (a reference to Ratatouille) as my my wife calls it helped me achieve a Japanese potato salad I’d be happy serving to Japanese people.

I recommend you make the potato salad first.

Japanese Potato Salad©Kevin Ashton2026

Ingredients: Serves 4 large portions

600g baby potatoes washed and cut into ¼ ‘s

75 grams finely diced or grated carrot

70g baby cucumbers halved and thinly sliced

2 boiled eggs 5 minutes.

90g Japanese mayo or regular mayo

A few drops Cider vinegar

*Optional spring onion/ scallion tassles

Sea salt and pepper

Method:

1. Simmer the in potatoes in salted water until very tender, then cool and drain.

2. Whilst the potatoes cook prepare the carrots and cucumbers.

3. Boil the eggs until hard boiled about 5 minutes, cool down and peel. Chop one egg into a fine dice and cut the other egg thin wedges and reserve both.

4. When the potatoes and tender drain well and cool down. Mash ¼ of the potatoes in the saucepan and keep cool.

5. Gently Mix the mayo into the remaining potatoes and add the cucumbers.

6. Sprinkle a few drops of Cider vinegar onto the carrots and stir that into the potato salad.

7. Stir in the reserved mashed potato and the finely dice boiled egg.

8. Taste the season lightly with salt and pepper.

9. Spoon into a small serving bowl and decorate with egg wedges.

Chefs Notes:

*If don’t have a Japanese mayo the just use your regular mayonnaise. Some people like to put in sweet corn and also a little shake of red pepper chilli flakes if you wish.

Chicken Teriyaki©KevinAshton 2026

Teriyaki chicken is a popular dish featuring tender chicken (usually thighs) seared and glazed in a sweet, savory sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake. It is often cooked in a skillet or wok in 20-30 minutes, commonly served over rice with steamed vegetables.

The Teriyaki Sauce is made with 1 part soy sauce + 1 part cooking sake + 1 part mirin + about ½ part sugar. I say ‘about ½ part sugar’ because you can adjust the sweetness to your liking. Note that there is no garlic and no ginger in the traditional Teriyaki Sauce.

Ingredients for 2 portions

4 chicken thighs, skin-on

150g white rice

1 Pak choy cut into 4

½ Tbsp vegetable oil

Teriyaki Sauce

3 Tbsp dark soy sauce

3 Tbsp mirin

3 Tbsp sake or non alcohol white wine

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

Sesame seeds to sprinkle on finished dish

sea salt + pepper

Method:

1.  Prep the chicken thighs by trimming off excess fat and removing the bone and any cartilage. Try to keep the thighs in a neat oblong shape. Next use a sharp small knife to stab little slits into the thighs which helps the sauce get absorbed.

2.  Place in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

3.  Mix the teriyaki ingredients into small bowl and reserve.

4.  Blanch your pak choy in boiling salted water for about 3-4 then cool down in cold water and drain.

5.  Have a saucepan of hot water standing by to cook your rice.

6.  Heat a non-stick frying pan with ½ Tbsp of vegetable oil on a medium high heat (7).

7.  Once the pan is hot and the oil fully distributed over the pan, dry off the chicken thighs patting with paper towel season lightly then lay the thighs skin side down into the frying pan.

8.  At this point start to cook your white rice in the boiling water on 7. The rice will take about 15-18minutes to cook so stir from time to time.

9.  Cook the thighs until the skin side is brown then turn them over. Continue to cook on until they are close to 75 C and then remove from the pan onto a plate.

10.  Drain off any excess fat from the frying pan then pour in the Teriyaki sauce and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat to 2-3 as soon at the sauce begins to simmer.

11.  When the rice is almost cooked add the chicken back into the Teriyaki sauce along with any juices that have come out of the chicken. Baste the chicken with sauce as the chicken thighs reheat (it will only take 1-2 minutes).

12.  Drain the rice and reheat you pak choy.

13.  Put two thighs onto cutting board and slice in a straight line. Gently place onto a warm plate with a portion of rice and the hot pak choy.

14.  Drizzle a little more sauce over the chicken and sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top.

15.   Serve with a small bowl of Japanese potato salad.

Chefs Notes on Teriyaki sauce

The difference in taste between store-bought teriyaki sauce and homemade teriyaki sauce will amaze you. It’s SO much better to make your own teriyaki sauce at home and what’s great is you know exactly what’s going in it. On top of that, it’s easy to make and requires just a few ingredients.