Yodare Dori — Mouthwatering Chicken with HOT SPICE "Shibikara"

Chicken breast turns dry because it is boiled too long.

Drop it into boiling water, and the moment the water returns to a boil, turn off the heat. Then just cover and wait 20 minutes, and you have moist, tender poached chicken. The stove is on for only the 5 minutes it takes to boil the water — a dish that never keeps you standing in the kitchen on a hot day.

There is one more place where order matters: where the green sansho pepper goes in.

HOT SPICE "Shibikara" is a blend built around two green sansho peppers from different origins — Hida and Sichuan. Sanshool, which creates the tingle, does not tolerate heat, so it never goes into the pot; it dissolves into the sauce after the stove is done. Mixed together with sesame oil, the tingle rides the oil and spreads evenly, while the cool aroma of cassia supports it from behind, so the heat never sharpens in one direction.

Total time: about 40 min

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• HOT SPICE "Shibikara" — to taste (add a little at a time, up to your preferred aroma and heat)
• Chicken breast — 2 (about 500 g)
• Cucumber — 1
• Japanese long onion (naganegi) — 1
• Ginger — 1 knob
• Shiso leaves — 5
• Sake — 2 tbsp
• Salt — 1/2 tsp (for seasoning the chicken)
• Garlic — 1 tsp (about 1 clove, grated)
• Soy sauce — 2 tbsp
• Vinegar — 1 tbsp
• Sugar — 2 tsp
• Sesame oil — 1 tbsp
• Ground white sesame — 1 tbsp
• Poaching liquid — 2 tbsp

Preparation

1. Remove the skin from the chicken breasts, rub the 1/2 tsp of salt into both sides, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Grate the garlic. If you don't have a grater, chop it finely.
3. Separate the long onion into its green and white parts. Remove the core from the white part, slice it into fine shreds, soak in water for 3 minutes, and drain.
4. Slice the ginger thinly.
5. Cut the cucumber into thin strips and the shiso leaves into ribbons. Once cut, keep everything in the refrigerator.

Instructions

1. Put 1.5 L of water, the green part of the long onion, the sliced ginger and the 2 tbsp of sake in a pot, and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Once boiling, add the 2 chicken breasts. When the water returns to a boil, turn off the heat. Cover and leave for 20 minutes. Keeping it at a boil tightens the meat and makes it tough, so be sure to turn off the heat.
3. After 20 minutes, take out the chicken and let it cool. Set aside just 2 tbsp of the poaching liquid.
4. In a bowl, combine the 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp ground white sesame, the grated garlic and the reserved 2 tbsp of poaching liquid, and mix well.
5. Add HOT SPICE "Shibikara" to the sauce a little at a time, mixing until it blends with the oil and tasting as you go. Stop when the aroma and heat are where you like them. Dissolved into the sauce rather than sprinkled on top as powder, the tingle spreads evenly through the whole dish.
6. Slice the chicken diagonally into 1 cm pieces. Spread the cucumber on a plate and arrange the chicken on top. With the cucumber underneath, the sauce doesn't pool at the bottom of the dish.
7. Pour the sauce over, then top with the shredded onion and shiso. One more shake to finish, if you like.
8. Taste at the end and adjust the seasoning. Adding soy sauce a drop at a time until the saltiness is where you like it is the key to a delicious finish.

HOT SPICE "Shibikara" is a blend built around green sansho pepper and chili. Both the tingle and the heat are pronounced, so add a little at a time and stop where it suits you. On days when children join the table, skip mixing it into the sauce and shake it over individual plates after serving instead.