Harumi's Chicken with Soy and Balsamic Dressing

A few weeks ago, I found Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking cookbook at Costco. One of the recipes that drew me in was "Chicken with Soy and Balsamic Dressing." I thought the combination was very interesting. I imagined all these different flavor combinations I had never tried...

I gathered up all the ingredients, de-boned the chicken thighs carefully to leave the skin on and intact. Then I mixed together the marinade. I couldn't wait until the chicken was cooked, so I excitedly tasted some of the marinade before I added the chicken. Sigh. No flavor revelation.

In the end, I realized I had just made plain old chicken adobo. How ironic...I buy a new cookbook (from a writer based in Japan!) in search of exotic new flavors and the first recipe I make in this Japanese cookbook turns out to be a filipino staple I know how to make and eat by heart.

Still it was tasty if not overly familiar. I did not simmer the chicken in the marinade like traditional adobo. Instead, I marinated the boneless skin-on chicken thighs in soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic and black pepper. Then I pan fried the chicken thighs. The recipe suggests serving the chicken over cabbage that has been sauteed in butter. This turned out to be wonderful and very low-carb diet friendly. But plain white rice would also have been very tasty.