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Steamed chicken breast with wasabi and chopped scallions,

shiso, scallions and sliced tomatoes.  Serve with soy sauce.

If someone offers me chicken, I am inclined to go for dark meat and chicken breasts would be my last choice.  It's probably due to all the rubber chicken breasts I have eaten over the years at business conventions and on airplanes.  But there is one good recipe that tells me not to give up on chicken breasts.  It is a steamed chicken breast dish that my Grandmother taught me.

The recipe is simple.   It's steamed chicken seasoned with sake, scallions and ginger.  What's great about this dish is that there is hardly any cooking involved.  I usually serve this chicken with noodles or as a salad.  I leave the skin on or take it off depending on my mood.   It tastes good with wasabi or grated and soy sauce or a little mustard.

STEAMED CHICKEN BREAST WITH GINGER AND SCALLIONS

Serves 2

• 1 chicken breast with skin
• 2 scallions, roots cut off. sliced in halves and then cut horizontially in two.
• 2 tbls ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
• 4 tbls sake
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• salt and pepper
• Wasabi
• Soy sauce

1. Bring the steamer to a boil over medium heat.
2. In a soup or pasta bowl, put the chicken. Top with ginger, scallions, sake and sesame oil.
3. Put the whole plate in the hot steamer. Be careful not to spill the liquid. Cover the steamer and steam for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Let the chicken cool completely. You can keep the chicken in the liquid. This will turn into a gelatin which makes a nice sauce for the chicken.
4. When the chicken is cool, take it out of the bowl. Discard ginger and scallions. Peel the chicken skin off or leave it on, whichever you like. Slice the chicken crosswise, about 1/4-inch thick. Serve with grated ginger or wasabi and soy sauce. Pour some of that gelatin on top.
5.  Serve with wasabi or grated ginger and soy sauce.