Tropical Chicken Teriyaki

I mentioned recently that I discovered some cooking contests and decided to try my hand at them.  One in particular ran a weekly contest, with each week opening up a new selection of ingredients.  During one particular week, the required ingredients were banana, pineapple, and spinach.  This is a fairly odd combination, and yet again my mind was happy to take on the challenge to think of something new.  I'd made Chicken Stir Fry some time ago, and decided to try it again with a variation--adding in the 3 ingredients for a fruity twist.

I first marinated some chicken for a few hours in a mixture of teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil to get it nice and moist.  After slicing the chicken breasts into strips, I cooked it on the stovetop until no longer pink.  Then, I added in some frozen mixed vegetables and fresh spinach leaves.  I let the vegetables cook for a few minutes while I prepared the sauce.

In a small bowl, I combined the soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, minced garlic, and ground ginger until mixed, then poured it over the chicken and vegetables.  I let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes, and spent that time getting my pineapple bits ready and cutting up the banana.  Finally, I stirred the banana and pineapple into the pan.

I served the finished stir fry over cooked rice.

This came out quite sweet!  The pineapple reminded me of sweet and sour chicken, and the banana added a unique taste to it.  I ended up adding a dash of sriracha sauce to the final product to make it a bit spicier, however I recommend leaving it out if you aren't looking for a spicier dish.  The teriyaki sauce was easy and came out really good.  The spinach was barely detectable, which is actually great since that makes it easy to toss into almost any dinner for some extra vitamins.  I would have never suspected bananas would go so good in a teriyaki dish, but this just goes to show that food experimentation is fun!

Tropical Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts

For the marinade:
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar

For the teriyaki sauce:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 package frozen stir-fry vegetables
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon minced garlic (2 garlic cloves)
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained (8 ounces)
1 banana
2 cups cooked rice

Instructions:

Mix together teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Add chicken and marinate for 2-3 hours.  Cut chicken into slices, season with salt and pepper, and add with the sesame oil to a nonstick skillet heated to medium-high. Heat for 5-7 minutes, until chicken is cooked throughout. Add frozen vegetables and spinach, then continue cooking for 3-4 minutes. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, minced garlic, and ground ginger and mix well. Pour over chicken and vegetables, lower heat, and simmer another 3-4 minutes. Chop banana into small pieces. Stir in drained pineapple and banana and serve over rice.

Cook for 1 hour.