Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

I give you a recipe that caught my attention on Pinterest the other week. It was called Rumbi's Spicy Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl.
I haven't eaten at Rumbi's in I can't even tell you how long. I know it hasn't been in the last 5 because there isn't a Rumbi's in St. Louis. I have this memory of delicious coconut rice with red beans. I loved it! So when I came across this recipe, naturally I started to drool and decided to make it. I made several modifications to it, due to laziness and lack of certain ingredients. But it turned out really good, all the same. Some things to keep in mind, not all teriyaki sauces are created equally. I bought Walmart's Great Value brand teriyaki sauce and marinade. It was super runny and tasted just the same as soy sauce. I was very disappointed. I should have bought the name brand like the original recipe called for. But they didn't have it and I didn't want to go to another store. I think if I had a good teriyaki sauce this dish would have been just that much better.

Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl

Rice:

• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1/2 Tablespoon sugar (I think you could even cut this down to 1 teaspoon and it would still be plenty sweet.)
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 (15 ounce) can red beans, drained and rinsed

Teriyaki Sauce:

• 3/4 cups Mr. Yoshida's or Kikkoman Original Teriyake sauce (it is typically found near the BBQ sauce, or in the Asian/Ethnic food isle.)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (Huy Fong Food's is probably the most common...but alas, I did not find it at Walmart and I didn't want to go to another store. So I improvised. I used 1 teaspoon sriracha and a clove of garlic, minced.)
• 1-2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated or minced
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar (I think I added 3 Tbsps trying to get that sweet teriyaki flavor and hide the soy.)
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (if needed)
• 2 Tablespoons cold water (if needed)

Vegetables & Chicken:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tablespoon peanut oil, or canola oil
• 1/4 bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables that you can get at Costco.

For the rice: Combine water, coconut milk and sugar in a large sauce pan. Stir in rice and beans. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer 18-20 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

For the teriyaki sauce: Combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, ginger, and brown sugar in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. If needed for thickening, combine cornstarch and water, and slowly add to sauce. You want it to be slightly thick, but loose enough to drizzle over your rice bowl. Cool to room temperature. If the sauce is too thick once cooled, add more teriyaki sauce to thin it out.

For the vegetables & chicken: Season chicken with salt and pepper and stir-fry until cooked through and no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm. Stir-fry frozen veggies until warmed through and tender crisp. Return chicken to pan and stir-fry for a minute to reheat chicken if needed.

Serve chicken and veggies over rice. Drizzle teriyaki sauce over top. Enjoy!