savory dishes & recipes: quick pacific chicken with kimchi

Most Asian dishes pair off really well with each other. Whether you use a Japanese sauce for your meat and a Korean vegetable side dish, the play of flavors in your mouth is an explosion of savory goodness. This dish is something that we’d like to make because chicken breast is something that we serve often. It is a healthy cut of meat, rather lean and mean, it’s our buff making machine (we couldn’t help the pun). As with a lot of the leaner cuts of meat, a lot of people have issues with it not being moist enough. What we have found as a useful tip in making the chicken breast become moist is… are you ready for this? (This is an ingenious tip that will save you calories and still having a juicy piece of chicken) You can lightly coat your chicken breast in potato starch. When we say lightly, don’t dredge it, more like powder it. This seals in the heat, and keeps your chicken breast moist. It’s much more effective rather than using corn starch, and heck, we’re no scientist so we don't know why, but it sure doesn't add any fat to the dish but it does add just a tad more calories. We believe it’s worth a few more to have a juicy piece of chicken breast. The dish is pretty simple to make that anyone can do it. Well, maybe almost anyone.
Prepping the Chicken 1.Cut the skinless, boneless, chicken breast into quarters (or whatever size you fancy, you can also have the skin on. If that’s the case, you can just go to your nearest KFC). 2. Season the chicken cuts with salt and pepper. Place the chicken into a zip lock bag with just enough potato starch and then shake. Make sure the pieces are coated but not overly coated. You can use a griddle to get the grill marks on the chicken. We used a date sauce common to the Japanese, called “okonomiyaki sauce”, to top it off. It’s similar to Worcestershire sauce but is sweeter and thicker because of the amount of figs, most likely. (be careful to get the real stuff, otherwise it's filled with preservatives) We were quite shocked to find out it had a lot of dates, actually. It's not only used for okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes) but also for anything that would pair with those flavors, since the sauce is quite versatile.
As a side dish, we thought Korean kimchi! Why not?! It has the perfect combination of spicy and savory tartness that goes great with the sweet fig sauce. Kimchi is made from fermented vegetables with a lot of Korean seasonings. There are several varieties of the dish but the most common is baechu (napa cabbage). The common seasonings used are garlic, salt, ginger, fish sauce, Korean chili powder, and sugar or honey. Presentation is a key factor when preparing a good meal, even when dining alone. Use beautiful plates, silverware, and a stem glass (even if you’re having soda). Light some candles and play some romantic music. It never hurts to feel as if you’re dining in an expensive restaurant in your own dining room.
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22 comments

  • October 9, 2011 at 7:16 pm //

    Interesting combination with the Kimchi side dish, looks delicious! Great photo too!

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:06 am //

      Thank you food dude!

  • October 10, 2011 at 2:01 am //

    This looks delicious, and thanks for sharing your secret to getting moist chicken! I’ll have to give the potato starch method a try.

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:06 am //

      Thank you Maryanna, please let us know your thoughts on using potato starch.

  • October 10, 2011 at 3:30 am //

    Oh the date sauce sounds good especially with the side of kim chi. Yum!!

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:05 am //

      Thank you Lindsey!

  • October 10, 2011 at 3:39 am //

    Gorgeous photos! So happy to have discovered your blog :-) I love kimchee and the chicken sounds great. I’d love to get my hands on that sauce – or make it myself! I have a mess of dates on my hands right now.

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:05 am //

      Hi Katherine, thank you, so happy you came over to say “hello”, it’s fabulous to be able to connect. You could make your own sauce, and bottle it, it should keep for a while, I’m sure homemade taste so much more better.

  • October 10, 2011 at 5:36 am //

    love your photography… i would like to invite you to share your pics on tastingspot.com

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:03 am //

      Thank you so much for the invite, we’ll be over to take a look, and thank you for commenting.

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:03 am //

      Thank you, please let us know your thoughts on using potato starch, and thank you so much for commenting.

    • October 10, 2011 at 11:02 am //

      Hi Yudith, thank you!

  • October 10, 2011 at 12:57 pm //

    What a GREAT tip on keeping chicken breasts moist! I’m going to have to look for potato starch now!

    • October 10, 2011 at 2:11 pm //

      Thank you Ann, please let us know if you give it a try, I’d love to hear about your results.

  • October 11, 2011 at 5:42 am //

    This chicken looks so vibrant and tasty! Great tip with the potato starch! I’ve never heard of that one!

    • October 12, 2011 at 9:45 am //

      Thank you Stephanie, Potato starch really works well, it adapts to high heat, so I find it hard to burn too.

  • October 13, 2011 at 9:48 pm //

    I tasted kimchi salad a few weeks back & i wasn’t very much delighted with the salad. Hope this combination would give a great taste. Cheers !

    • October 13, 2011 at 10:03 pm //

      We’ve never tried Kimchi salad before, but the side dish is really delish, hope you have an opportunity to try it again someday, thanks for commenting.

  • October 17, 2011 at 3:49 pm //

    Yup, The chicken looks really scrumptious , the upper surface of the chicken is gorgeous. I am looking forward to relish your chicken recipe. Thanks again.