Island Slaw Teriyaki Chicken with Wasabi Glaze

Wisconsin and Japan. Dichotomy in action right? But not so fast - Japan and Sake, Wisconsin and beer - Japan and rice, Wisconsin and corn. Lets stop there... Except I do want to point out that Wisconsin and the Prefecture of Chiba have an established "Sister State" relationship that has been in effect since 1990. 

This summer I was in Wisconsin and had the opportunity to visit the Wisconsin State Fair. Although you can find the influence and culture of Japan just about anywhere these days, the Wisconsin State Fair is supposed to be the bastion of all things Wisconsin. You know - beer, cheese curds, cream puffs, cows, pig races, and farm tractors to name a few. So while walking around I came across a food both selling Island Slaw Teriyaki Chicken with Wasabi glaze. It was like teleporting from a Wisconsin farm (think cows and the smell) to a Japanese Izakaya (think cool atmosphere and sake) in an instant. Awakened from my trance I find myself still standing in front of this food booth in Wisconsin surrounded by beer bellied, food loving and friendly folks. I have to try this dish of course.

The fair had a food contest called Sporkies where the different vendors can submit their dishes. The goal was to create the most inventive and exotic culinary creations.  The vendor's name was "Island Noodles" and they had entered their Island Slaw dish into the contest.

Although this particular dish was not that exotic, it did make the final cut of eight out of 40 entries, and it had several Japanese components that made it a candidate for a recipe post on this blog.  You don't find wasabi featured in many dishes in Wisconsin, much less at the State Fair, so I couldn't pass it up.  I also found bacon wrapped shrimp tempura that same night in this land far far from Japan. But that's for a possible future post.

The below photo is the State Fair version of the recipe. The official name is Island Slaw. But the full description is better - Island Slaw topped with teriyaki chicken, glazed with wasabi sauce and sprinkled with garlic macadamia nuts.

Much like the bacon wrapped shrimp tempura (which was not that impressive), I think we should make some recipe "enhancements" to bring this up to the program standards.

First, you can see that the teriyaki chicken is cut up in small pieces and doesn't look all that appetizing. Instead of smaller pieces I'm thinking larger pieces that you can get away with serving at home. Nothing was wrong with the slaw, and they wouldn't divulge the recipe details. But we can derive enough hints from the description, the name, and the internet, and will improve on it as well, using some well known Japanese ingredients.

Before we get started with the recipe, here is the final product after the makeover.

Directions for the coleslaw:

- bag of coleslaw mix or shred your own cabbage. 

- small carrot chopped small (if you don't have the slaw mix)

- 3/4 cup low fat mayonnaise

- 1/4 cup lowfat sour cream (use regular mayo and sour cream as you desire for more flavor)

~ 1 tablespoon wasabi paste (the State Fair version only used the wasabi on the glaze. This is an optional enhancement)

- 1 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce 

- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated

- 1 tablespoon sugar

- 1 small can of mandarin oranges (I used mikans to stay true to Japanese ingredients)

- 1 small can of crushed or diced pineapples

Important note: Use only a few tablespoons of each the oranges and pineapple or you will risk having it taste like fruit salad instead of cole slaw.

Island Slaw ingredients

Cut up the orange and pineapple pieces well (only a few tablespoons of each). Mix all the ingredients together and place the coleslaw in the fridge for a few hours. It's best to let the flavors combine.

Island Slaw

Directions for the teriyaki chicken:

- 1 tablespoon cornstarch

- 1 tablespoon cold water

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup soy sauce

- 1 tablespoon cooking sake (can be omitted if desired)

- 1/4 cup cider vinegar or rice vinegar

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

- 6 chicken thighs

The above amounts make more than enough for a few chicken pieces. It can be cut in half safely if you stay with 6 chicken thighs. 

Teriyaki sauce ingredients

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan except the chicken. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat. 

Cook the chicken as you desire in the stove or in a pan. For pan - cook in some oil skin side down to brown. While cooking, add some of the teriyaki sauce to the chicken. Then flip over and finish cooking with steam by covering the pan. Use low heat or you'll burn the sugars in the teriyaki sauce. Later near the end of the steam cooking, add more teriyaki sauce to the chicken. 

Cover to steam cook

Second to last step is to make the garlic macadamia nuts. Most supermarkets carry garlic macadamia nuts made by Mauna Loa company. I couldn't find them so made my own. For this I just used some garlic powder with parsley flakes mixed with chopped macadamia nuts.  Later I did come across the Mauna Loa product at LIVIN. They pictured below. 

Make your own by chopping some macadamia nuts in a bag

 

add the garlic powder

The last step is the make the wasabi-mayo glaze. Add a tablespoon or so of wasabi paste to a tablespoon or so of light mayonnaise and mix.

Final preparation:
Place the teriyaki chicken pieces on top of the slaw.  Drizzle on some additional teriyaki sauce.
Add the wasabi-mayo glaze and top with the garlic macadamia nuts.

Oishee