Persimmon and Chicken Teriyaki

Recipe adapted from Today’s Cooking

My husband’s co-worker gave us persimmons harvested from her own tree…my favorite, Fuyu variety with no seeds. As child, I would climb on a stone fence and snatch one…maybe two from neighbors. Some persimmon varieties are very astringent and inedible yet I knew the way to remedy the problem – peel the fruit leaving the stem intact then string it to dry in the sun. They turned very sweet…where did you get those? I don’t know why my mother bothered asking the question when she already knew the answer? I’m sure the neighbors would have gladly gave us of the abundance of the fruits since they can’t eat them all but perhaps pretending to be a shinobi (忍び /incognito) girl was thrilling…occasional scratches and bruises were part of the occupational hazard.

I like to eat these like an apple, maybe with cream cheese though,  I would like to venture out for savory dish. Again I’m on the internet, search for savory persimmon recipe. Today’s Cooking caught my interest. Luckily, I have almost everything to make it happen and it seemed very easy. I also love the speedy clean-up at the end of the meal!

Ingredients and Instruction for two servings (Print Recipe Here)

Sauce

• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce or tamari soy sauce
• 4 Tablespoons mirin
• 4 Tablespoons sake
• 2  teaspoons sugar

Other ingredients

• 10-12 green beans, cut both ends off, then cut in half
• 300g boneless chicken thigh (about 2 chicken thighs), cut in one inch cubes.
• 1 Tablespoon flour or cornstarch for gluten free version
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 fairly firm persimmons (Fuyu variety recommended), cut in 4ths, peel skin (remove seeds if they have) then slice in 1/2 inch slices so that it will be a triangular shape.
• 1/4 cup shelled walnuts, roughly chopped if they are whole
• Juice from 1 kabosu (かぼす)  Note: I was not able to find this type of citrus, I substituted lime and satsuma orange.

1. Mix sauce ingredients in a measuring cup or small bowl. Set aside
2. Ready ice cold water in a bowl. Blanch green beans in salted (approximately 1 Tablespoon salt to 3 cups of water) boiling water about 1 minute. Drain water then quickly submerge the green beans into the prepared cold water bowl. When the green beans get cold, remove the beans. Set aside.
   
3. Lightly coat chicken with flour or corn starch. Heat oil in large non-stick frying pan at medium heat. Brown chicken until golden in color.
4. Push the chicken to the side of the pan and spread persimmons in the rest of the pan. When browned, flip over to brown the other side, about 3-4 minutes per side.
   
5. Add blanched green beans and walnuts to the pan and stir.
6. Pour in the prepared sauce, simmer at low heat until sauce thickens. It takes only 1-2 minutes so keep an eye on it so as to not let it burn.
7. Squeeze lime and orange juice in. Stir. Serve warm.Voila!

 Other persimmon recipes we tried and  I posted on Instagram(#todaystapas,#todayssweets) are great I think.

Caramel persimmon and banana bread…next time I have to double the recipe and would like to share with neighbors…I follow the Japanese recipe and barely filled 3x5 pan. No-wonder Japanese people are skinny (me not included).

Persimmon Bread by my husband….so many persimmons so little time. Next stop - Angie’s Persimmon Streusel

We like persimmons yet a change of pace was inevitable….oven baked cheesy meatloaf in a kabocha bowl.

My mischievous Shinobi girl days are long gone…I can’t climb any fence over 3 feet tall now.

Balls

Japanese style Scotch Egg with Oregon chicken

My husband’s co-worker handed him a sack of green beans other day. Nice! Our green beans in the garden stopped growing  for some weird reason. Like it’s saying, yep, I’m done, I can’t work with this weak sun. You little spoiled GB you! That is true that we didn’t have very many hot days in Portland, Oregon and August is fleeting. That makes me a little melancholic.

I have no idea what to do with this green of freshness, I start digging in my files for inspiration. This Scotch Egg like recipe I found in ‘Orange Page’ Japanese magazine published in 1996. Instead of ground beef, this uses ground breast chicken. Japanese called this tsukune- not my favorite kind of meat- too tame in flavor but it’s fried food! Which is my favorite method of cooking and all the ingredients I have at home is definite plus.

6-8 chicken balls depending on sizes.

• 6-8  small eggs hard boiled and shelled
• Chicken breasts 450-500g
• Corn-canned (drained) or fresh corn cooked and cut kernel from cob 250g
• Green beans 60g cut in small pieces
• 2 Tablespoons sake
• 2 Teaspoons salt
• 1 Teaspoon white pepper
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch plus more for dusting. I used potato starch for this.
• Oil for frying

1. Make ground chicken by laying the chicken on the cutting board then pound with sharp knife until minced or use a food processer to grind the chicken.
2. Mix ground chicken, corn and green beans.
3. Add seasoning-sake, salt,pepper and cornstarch then mix well till sticky. Divide in 6-8 portions
4. Lay out a good size plastic wrap and put meat mixture in the center. Spread meat mixture thin but not too thin so that you can wrap the boiled egg without tearing.
5. Dust the egg with corn starch. Tap to remove excess starch. Put it in the center of meat mixture
6. Pull the edge of wrap to form ball around the egg. Twist tightly so that it holds together.
7. Dust with cornstarch and  deep fry the balls at over medium heat until golden color.
8. Put a couple of paper towel on a large plate and place the fried balls to drain excess oil.

Cut a ball in fourths and simply mix 6 tablespoons of  ketchup and 2 tablespoons of  Dijon mustard as dipping sauce. Ponzu soy sauce with hot Japanese mustard is also good. 

A person who works for my husband gave him this homemade mustard last Christmas, It has great flavor and beats out Gray Poupon.

I found a zucchini on our door step someone left with a note attached. How sweet!  You shouldn’t have. We have a reason not to grow zucchini in our garden but we graciously accept this size. I didn’t have whole lot of time left till dinner, so I simply sautéed with butter along with eringi. Though I should have made  Marc’s zucchini fritter, I already made fried food with gift of fresh crops.

With a few drops of soy sauce, it was delicious. Thank you, squash loving neighbor!