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Yakitori negima

Name: Yakitori negima
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 82 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 60 ml sake; 60 ml mirin; 125 ml soy sauce; 55 g caster sugar; 1 piece 2 cm piece of ginger, chopped; 500 g skinless chicken thigh fillets; 4 piece large spring onions, white part only, in 4 cm lengths, blanched; shichimi togarashi, to serve

焼き鳥ねぎま (yakitori negima)

Skewers of chicken thigh and spring onion, marinated in a reduced tare of sake, mirin, soy, sugar and ginger, grilled over a medium-high heat while being basted, and finished with shichimi togarashi. The recipe is Deborah Kaloper's, from SBS.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 40 min
Cooking: 12 min
Resting: 30 min
Total: 1 h 22
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Small saucepan
8 wooden skewers, 15 cm; foil
Charcoal grill, barbecue or ridged grill pan
Pastry brush; tongs

Servings4

Ingredients

Shopping list

Method

Simmer the sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar and ginger in a saucepan over a medium heat for about 4 minutes, until reduced by a third. Let it cool.
Why Reducing cooks off much of the alcohol and concentrates the tare so it glazes on the grill.
Timer · 4 min4:00
Cut the chicken into 24 pieces of about 4 cm. Set aside 60 ml of tare for basting and 60 ml for serving, toss the chicken in the rest, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Why Keeping the basting and serving portions apart from the start means no tare that touched raw chicken reaches the table.
Timer · 30 min30:00
Heat the grill to medium-high. Starting with chicken, thread 3 pieces of chicken and 2 of spring onion alternately onto each skewer.
Grill for about 8 minutes, turning halfway and basting with the reserved tare, until charred and cooked through. Put foil under the exposed ends of the skewers so they do not burn.
Timer · 8 min8:00
Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi and serve with the remaining tare.

To drink & serve with

Editorial suggestion: rice, or a cold beer as in a Japanese yakitori bar.

Substitutions

Sake → More mirin, or water with a little extra sugar.
Japanese negi (long onion) → Thick spring onions or young leeks, as the source does.
Soy sauce (gluten-free) → Tamari labelled gluten-free.

Common mistakes

Basting with the marinade the raw chicken sat in: keep the basting portion separate.
A grill that is too hot: the sugary tare burns before the chicken is cooked.
Packing the pieces tightly: they cook unevenly.

Storage & reheating

Best hot from the grill. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat within 2 days.

Safety

Contains soy and gluten (soy sauce). Chicken on skewers must be cooked right through, with no pink and clear juices (UK FSA).

Allergens

Soy · Gluten

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Grilled chicken, skewer by skewer

Yakitori means grilled chicken, and it covers a whole family of skewers. Deborah Kaloper names some of them: negima, chicken and onion, the one given here; tsukune, chicken meatballs; kawa, chicken skin; reba, chicken liver; and hotate, scallops.

Her recipe is for the home grill. A tare of sake, mirin, soy, sugar and ginger is reduced by a third and divided three ways: one part to marinate the chicken, one to baste it, one to serve. The skewers alternate three pieces of thigh with two lengths of blanched spring onion and are grilled for about eight minutes, turned once and basted, until charred.

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How it connects

Place

origin Tokyo In preparation