Rice Salad and Teriyaki Chicken

YAH!! I am so thrilled with this recipe. I did a little experimenting, tasting and crossing of fingers and came out with an incredibly tasty meal. So here is the break down of what I did:

First I marinaded the chicken in a homemade teriyaki sauce. I've done this before and you can go back into the archives to see that or just do this:

2 parts soy sauce
1 part sesame oil (I stole that idea from a reader and YUMMY!!!)
garlic (to taste)
1 part sugar (my parents are diabetic so I used Splenda to make it more friendly for ALL our waistlines)
ginger (to taste - I used fresh ginger chopped super fine)

I let it marinade for a couple of hours before throwing in on the grill. I LOVE summer and using the BBQ grill as often as possible (this makes 3 nights in a row and ribs are on the menu for tomorrow).


Then to make the rice salad I used the following ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of cooked and cold basmati rice
1 fresh clove of garlic
1 small piece of fresh ginger
a small amount of cilantro (or skip it if you don't like it)
a dash of black pepper (fresh cracked is best)
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tbsp of vinegar (I'd recommend a wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
2 green onions
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots


The first thing I did was finely chop the garlic and ginger. I also chopped up the cilantro into this so that there was a combining of flavours. I put it all in a big bowl with the soy sauce and vinegar.


Then I chopped up the veggies. I had a little fun withe carrots. I think you need to have some fun with your food, can't always be serious! ;) I then tossed them all into the dressing and added the pepper. I made sure that all the veggies got tossed around in the sauce before adding in the rice and stirring well.


Mmmmm.... so good.


And there is the finished product!! Perfectly cooked chicken that was both savoury and sweet and then a salad that was a little sour and spicy because of the fresh ginger. And the best part was that the rice was cold... such a nice treat on a hot day!

Happy eating!!