Yakitori

My June issue of Cooking Light came this week, with a recipe for Yakitori. When I suggested it to my hubby, who previously lived for ~3 years in Japan, he thought it would be a great idea for our Sunday grill night. I also got a lesson in Japanese, learning that "yaki" means "grilled."

I was a little rushed to get this together, as I was also chopping vegetables for the grill basket and making chocolate chip cookies, so I forgot to add the final ingredients to the teriyaki sauce (rice vinegar and sesame oil). And I didn't marinade the chicken in the sauce -- just put it on the grill, then brushed the marinade on.

The other big difference is that this called for sake as the base to the sauce, which we did not have -- used mirin instead.  No matter because it tasted delicious and the hubby immediately said it tasted very authentic to the meals he ate in Japan.

I will share both the real recipe and the version I made tonight. I can't wait to try it again and make it according to the recipe! I will have to allow for more prep time next time.

Yakitori

(I made half the amount called for by the recipe. In the future I'll make the full amount to have a dipping sauce. Below I've typed the full amounts)

1 cup sake (I used mirin, 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup Tbsp sugar (I used 2 Tbsp)
3.5 Tbsp soy sayce (I used 1 Tbsp)
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1.5 - 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
5 garlic cloves, crushed
5 cilantro sprigs (I omitted)

9 green onions, cut into 2" pieces

1) Combine sake (or mirin), sugar, soy sauce, ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let rest 15 minutes (I skipped this wait).  Remove ginger with slotted spoon and place in a medium bowl.

2) Take 2 Tbsp of the soy sauce mixture (above) and add it to the ginger in the bowl. Add crushed red pepper, CHICKEN, garlic, and cilantro.  Cover and chill for 1 hour.

(I skipped this 1 hour marinade step. Instead, I added the garlic cloves to the soy mixture in the saucepan, and let it boil down, as in step 3)

3) Bring remaining soy sauce mixture to a boil, and let cook at 10 minutes, until reduced to 1/4 cup. (Recipe calls to add 3 Tbsp rice vinegar and 1 Tbsp sesame oil -- I did not).

4) Divide soy sauce mixture into 2 portions (one for basting chicken, another for a dipping sauce)

5) Thread chicken pieces and green onion onto skewers. Place skewers on grill rack. Cover and grill for ~ 8 minutes or until done (turning at 4 minutes), and basting with reserved soy sauce mixture.

We had almost 2 lbs of chicken, so I loaded these skewers.

The CL recipe called for short skewers of 3 chicken pieces each.

 According to my hubby who did the grilling, shorter skewers would have been better, to allow more even cooking on our unevenly heated grill rack.  Interesting to note, that when he lived in Japan it was common for people to eat short yakitori skewers as little post-work snacks with beer. I guess CL got it right.

Close up of the delicious results

The whole meal

Grilled Squash and Veggies

We also had grilled vegetables, with another teriyaki-like marinade that I improvised really quickly.  We should have had less vegetables -- they overcrowded the grill basket.

Vegetable marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup white wine (Riesling on hand)
1 Tbsp sugar
~1 tsp of chili garlic sauce

Combine ingredients above and baste the veggies.

An orchid wedding present in our Kitchen Cats' kitchen. Thank you, Wes and Ryan!!