Teriyaki chicken drumsticks with seaweed slaw

When I was a kimono-clad, whipper-snapper stirring the Sukiyaki pot at Melbourne’s Minami Japanese restaurant in the ’80s, I served more Teriyaki chicken than any other dish to the budding Japanese taste buds of the big city. Japanese food was the new kid on the block and luring the newbies in with raw fish was never going to cut it. So a tasty plate of Teriyaki chook was always first up, and from there, more adventurous dishes would follow. Here’s an easy-peasy Japan-easy dish for your crew. Doitashimashita!

8 organic chicken legs
1 cup shoyu or tamari
1/3 cup raw honey
¼ cup mirin
2 teaspoons grated ginger
Garnish
Pickled ginger or pink radish slices
Shiso leaves

1. In a large bowl, mix shoyu or tamari, honey, and ginger in a bowl
2. Marinate the drumsticks in the mixture for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven at 200°C.
4. Bake the chicken, uncovered, for 35 to 40 minutes
   or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crispy.

Cabbage and seaweed slaw
½ cup almonds, halved
½ cup shredded white cabbage
½ cup assorted sprouts
½ red onion, finely sliced
1 toasted nori sheet, shredded
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon macadamia oil

1. In a large bowl, toss almonds, cabbage, sprouts, onion, nori.
2. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds.
3. Dress with a quick whisk of macadamia oil and vinegar together.

First published May 2015