Yakitori tsukune

Tonight yakitori !
But the photos are… night photos. Sorry.

You’ll see nicer in this post with 2 more versions of this basic skewer. And a mini-compil :

Soft tsukune recipe :
-For about 150g of meat (not too lean ground chicken), I’ve added a 1 tbs of ginger (minced), 1 tbs of leek (minced), 1 ts of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, 2 tbs of sake, 1 tbs of sesame oil, plus a little more salt. After adding the previous ingredients and kneading, I’ve mixed in 2 big tbs of potato starch and about 1/2 cup of water. I let it rest 2 hours so flavors can mix.
-Then the balls are formed and boiled. Bring a pot of water to ebullition, pass on medium heat and throw in freshly made balls. When they are done, they are white all around and they come afloat. Take them away. They can be cooled and stored for a later meal, or used immediately.
-Put balls on skewers, oil, salt and grill. It’s the simple “salt grilled style”.

Yuzu citrus and togarashi hot chili pepper tsukune. I also made nira tsukune by adding minced nira (garlic chive) to the mix.

With the broth I made a soup, adding slices of ginger, shimeji mushrooms and negi leeks.

Lacquered yakitori balls and grilled kabocha

Sauce tsukune.

Sesame tsukune.
Two more variation of tsukune (meat balls) of yakitori (grilled chicken skewer bars). For simple “salt” version, see here.

Yep, they are painted…

The boiled balls (preparation here) are put on skewers, then painted several times with sauce, before, during and after being grilled under the broiler or on a brasero. I have not made my sauce, I’ve used the fruity Bulldog sauce (more here). Some yakitori shops use that, but most make their mix.
For the sesame ones, after 2 or 3 times, I stopped adding sauce but passed the skewer in a mix of white and black sesame seeds.

As I used the oven-toaster, I also grilled thin slices of kabocha pumpkin. Just like that, no salt, no oil. It’s delicious.

Vegetables (raw red onion, blanched and cooled okra and ninniku-no-me garlic stalks) and the leftover of creamy pesto dressing (preparation here). I mixed and let one hour.

Then 2 appetizers, I kept them “nature” without adding salt :

The seeds of kabocha, baked with the rest.

Edamame.

So I had a small casual dinner… well, that was a lunch.

other yakitori

Japanese New-Year count down (-9)

Second episode of preparing Japanese Osechi Ryori, the traditional New-Year meal. After the egg, the chicken….

It’s a terrine called Chicken Matsukaze.

Matsukaze, kaze the wind passing through the branches of matsu the pine… That gives good luck for sure. I don’t know more. It’s the name of this recipe of chicken….

Osechi 5 : chicken matsukaze

Matsukaze, kaze the wind passing through the branches of matsu the pine… That gives good luck for sure. I don’t know more. It’s the name of this recipe of chicken.

Chicken matsukaze

Adapted from the recipe “ichimatsu noshi tori” (chicken on a chessboard) of Mrs Suzuki.

Ground meat was used in the initial version. I used a full breast.
With a knife, cut a 300g of chicken breast in the smallest bits you can. It’s easier if the meat is very cold, slightly frozen. Put half of the meat in an oiled heated pan, ans stir-fry it till golden. Let it cool. (photo 1) In a blender, combine 1 small egg, the raw meat, 1 tbs of chunky white miso, 1 tbs of low salt soy sauce, 1 tbs of sugar. Mix it into a cream texture. Add the cooled cooked meat. Mix again slightly or longer, depending on the texture you wish. I think smooth is more traditional. I prefered chunky.

Put cooking paper in a square/triangular dish and fill it in order to have about a 5 cm height. (photo 2).
Bake covered with a foil about 20 minutes at 250 degree C. Take out the foil a few minutes before it’s done. After 15 minutes, start checking if it’s cooked with a pick. If the pick gets out dry and some liquid splashes out, it’s done. (photo 3)

With a serrated knife level the top and take out the “roasted” bits. Cover the half with sheet of paper to make a rectangle topped with white poppy seeds. Move the paper and cover the other half with powder flaked aonori green seaweeds. Let it cool. (photo 4).

When it is cold, cut regular bicolor band. Place them in reverse order in the box to form a checker pattern. Serve the 2nd to 5th day as taste is better after a little rest.

It was DELICIOUS !!!!! I didn’t know that dish. It’s this year’s Osechi discovery for me.

Osechi ryori compilation