This is an easy chicken marinade that yields wonderful results. The marinade is basically a 1:1:1 mixture of Miso: Mayonnaise: Soy Sauce with added garlic powder, ginger powder and a dash of sugar to round everything out.
That's it.
Super simple, but super tasty. The secret is the mayonnaise that helps the seasonings penetrate the chicken.
I'm not sure if this is a Hawaiian dish or not, but I sure make it a lot when in Hawaii, cuz my father-in-law always has a ton of miso and mayonnaise in the back of the fridge. I think he wants me to make him miso soup (he loves tofu miso soup) but it's just sooooooooooooo HOT here all the time. At least to us "mainlanders"...
Anyways, here's step by step how to make this simple dish.
Some Tips First: Use white miso (shiro miso), as it's less salty than the longer fermented red (darker) miso pastes. Read about miso pastes here and here. Cook this chicken under medium heat, as miso burns easily. Use boneless skinless chicken thighs so that the chicken cooks faster and doesn't burn before it's cooked through. Bone-in thighs end up burnt by the time it's cooked through.
Here in the pictures, I pan fried my chicken in two separate batches as I didn't want to crowd the pan and inhibit the browning process. This chicken is great with some hot rice and a side of veggies. And left overs work well chopped up and served cold over a big salad.
Enjoy!
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 12 Boneless skinless chicken thighs (~4 lbs)
- 2 T miso*
- 2 T mayonnaise
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1 T sugar
- 1 t granulated garlic powder
- 1 t ginger powder
- chopped scallions for garnish
- 1 T cooking oil
1. Prepare the marinade in a bowl by mixing in the miso paste, mayonnaise and soy sauce until smooth. Then add in the sugar, garlic and ginger. (* I used a white miso which is less salty than the darker red miso-- Miko Brand.)
2. Pour marinade over chicken thighs. Mix and marinate overnight in the fridge.
3. The next day, take chicken out of the fridge, and drain off the marinade. Heat a large pan with 1 T of oil under medium heat. Place chicken in a single layer and brown the chicken. About 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until chicken is cooked through. You may need to cook your chicken in two batches depending on the size of your pan
4. Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped scallions. Serve hot over rice. Also great served cold over a chopped salad.