Teriyaki Chicken Tsukune

Tsukune is a Japanese chicken meatball most often cooked yakitori style (but can be fried or baked) and sometimes covered in a sweet soy sauce.  I often make them grilled in a frying pan as it’s the easiest method.  From grilling till covering the sauce can be done in one pan, so not many washing afterwards :p

I love the smell of caramelised sauce.  You must have steamed rice with it!  You can alter the 1/3 of chicken with mashed tofu for a healthier option.

I added chopped spinach, but spinach is not a common ingredient to tsukune. I just did it to boost my iron intake :p  Chopped water chestnuts or bamboo shoots give crunchy texture.  Adding finely chopped carrot, spring onion, or/and shiitake makes tsukune more nutritious.

<Chicken Tsukune>  serves 4

• Chicken Mince 400g
• Onion 1, medium
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp chopped Spinach (optional)

Ginger Chicken

Ginger chicken – I used chicken thigh and marinated in teriyaki-style ginger sauce before grilling.

What you need to be careful when grilling marinated meat is that it burns easily.  And especially for chicken, you don’t want the meat burnt and black but the inside remains uncooked.  I heat up the frying-pan then turn down just before cooking the chicken.  Cook over low heat – because the pan was hot, the bottom of the meat should have nice-looking colour.  Then flip it over.  Cook over low heat again for few minutes, then add little amount of water.  By adding water, the chicken will be surely cooked through.  The full recipe is below ↓

The meat is soft and juicy!  This dish isn’t a saucy one, but because it’s been marinated the flavour is inside the meat.

The bed of cabbage laying beneath the chicken is also cooked in the teriyaki-style sauce, so you pick a piece of chicken with little amount of flavour-soaked cabbage, then enjoy all together.

Here is the recipe;

<Ginger Chicken>

• Chicken Thigh 2 fillets
• Cabbage Leaves 2 leaves
• Soy Sauce 1 tbs
• Sake (cooking wine) 1 tbs
• Crushed Ginger 1 tsp
• sesame seeds to sprinkle (optional)

1. Place chicken fillets in a container or a plastic bag. Add soy sauce, sake and ginger to it, and rub gently.  Leave in the fridge for 2 hours or so (or you can leave it overnight – it’s ok)
2. Drain chicken (keep the marinade).
3. Heat up a frying pan over high heat.  Add oil, then turn down to low.  Place chicken and grill until the bottom is coloured.
4. Flip it over.  Cook over low heat for 3 – 4 minutes.  Add 1 table spoon of water, then cook until the water is gone.
5. Remove the chicken and place on a chopping board.  (keep the frying pan)
6. Slice up the cabbage leaves.  Place the cabbage & remained marinade sauce into the frying pan, and cook until the cabbage is soft.
7. Slice the chicken.
8. Spread the cabbage on a plate, then arrange the chicken on top.  Pour the sauce (from the pan) over.  Serve with steamed rice.

Tori-Kawa (Chicken Skin)

Stir-fried chicken skin with sweet ans salty sauce.  If you like tori-kawa (chicken skin), it’s a great dish at very cheap cost

Some people like soft texture of skin, but I like it crispy.  So I grilled the skin until golden before adding the seasoning sauce.  It goes with steamed rice, and also can be great accompaniment to alcohol drinks.

<Recipe> serves 3~4

• 2 cups chicken skin
• 2 cups beanshoots
• few leaves cabbage
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs mirin

a

1. Cut chicken skin into pieces.  Cut cabbage.
2. Place chicken skin in a frying pan with no oil, and turn on the heat. When the skin starts to sizzle, turn the heat down and grill until golden and crispy.  Wipe away the excess fat with kitchen paper.  It makes the dish light and healthy.
3. Add beanshoots and cabbage.  Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add sugar, soy sauce and mirin.  Cook until the liquid is almost gone and the skin is caramelised.

a

Chicken Katsu

Katsu is a Japanese dish of deep-fried food with breadcrumb.  It’s usually pork when you say “katsu”, but it also can be chicken, fish and prawn.  (pork = ton-katsu, prawn = ebi-katsu)  There is a popular dish called kushi-katsu too, which is skewered, breadcrumbed, deep-fried foods.  Kushi-katsu can be made with variety of foods.  Nowadays I can find very unique ones in Japan such as fresh fruits and ice-cream.

The standard katsu (ton-katsu) usually uses thick meat, and is served sliced with shredded cabbage.  In Nagoya in Japan is famous for miso katsu as it’s Nagoya’s speciality food.  If you have chance going there, try one of those!

I used chicken to make katsu this time, and I sliced the meat pretty thin.  I did it so that it cooks faster and makes it crispier.

This accompanied sauce is not miso based.  Few different sauces are blended.  You can buy ton-katsu sauce at Asian grocery shops too.

<Chicken Katsu>  serves 2

• 1 fillet chicken thigh *(you may use chicken breast if you prefer)
• plain flour, egg, breadcrumb to coat
• 1 cup cabbage, shredded

sauce

• 1 tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbs grated onion
• 1 tsp iri-goma (coarsley ground roasted white sesame seeds) ← optional

a

1. Slice chicken fillet into two thin pieces.  Duct with flour, then dip in egg wash, and coat evenly with breadcrumb.
2. Deep-fry the chicken until golden.  Set aside.
3. Mix all the ingredients from “sauce”.
4. Shred cabbage.
5. Slice katsu, and arrange on a plate.  Serve with cabbage and sauce.

a

Miso Yakitori

Yakitori, grilled skewered-chicken dish, is usually seasoned with either salt (shio) or soy sauce-based sauce (tare), but here is another option.  Brush the chicken with sweet miso paste while grilling –  it gives the shine and great sweet miso taste to the chicken

<Miso Yakitori> serves 4

• 4 fillets chicken thigh
• spring onion stalks / cucumber
• 3 tbs red miso paste
• 1.5 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1.5 tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine)
• 1.5 tbs sugar

a

1. Soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the chicken into cubes.  Chop onion and cucumber into 2cm.
3. Skewer the chicken and spring onion/cucumber alternatively.
4. Mix the miso, sake, mirin and sugar.
5. Heat a grill pan and spray oil.  Place the chicken skewers and grill one side, then flip it around.
6. Start brushing the miso mixture to the chicken.  (miso gets burned easily)  Brush one side, then flip it around, brush another side, … continue until the chicken is cooked.
7. Serve with steamed rice ♪ or a glass or beer.