Yakitori, an amazing taste for a simple dish.
This is absolutely one of the most delicious dishes, simple and assured result. In Japan they do it with different parts of the chicken on a grill and fits very well with the concept of street food, but in recent years I have seen it in the restaurants in various forms. One thing is certain, the secret of its success lies in its great sauce: the teriyaki sauce, aka tare. Consisting of soy, mirin, sake and sugar (or honey), the teriyaki sauce now is found in several fusion dishes as well as in traditional Japanese cuisine and you can also find it for sale by the ethnic food retailers, but, as we know, the things that we make owrselves have another taste.
Do not be scared by the ingredients for the sauce, I can offer a valid alternative to the use of mirin and sake, but if you have the patience to get them, you can create a taste very similar to the original sauce that goes well with many dishes both meat of fish.
To be precise:
The Mirin is a sweet and light liquor derived from fermented rice. E 'is often used for cooking. Sake is a liquor made from alcohol and fermented rice and is definitely known more of mirin. Both the ingredients mentioned above, if you were to have their own difficulties to find them can be replaced in equal amounts by a dry white wine.
Yakitori chicken jumped means (more precisamenti "bird"), then the chicken is the main ingredient of this dish. In Japan are all parts and chicken cooked in this way, including the innards, then, what I read in some restaurants: "pork yakitori or salmon" is an inaccuracy of a modern hybrid cuisine which, in my opinion too often it matters's taste but leaves out the culture that lies behind a dish.
Usually these kebabs are cooked to the plate, but for a smooth glaze often prefer them in the oven. For the kind of cooking that I have chosen, the boned leg is the best option because it remains soft and with a good consistency.
For those who want to overdo, you can marinate the chicken at least 30 minutes before cooking with a little oil, soy sauce and pepper (or you can experiment with your marinades).
Ingredients for 5 skewers: A chicken leg boneless Cooking skewers (bamboo) 1 leek For the sauce: 100 ml of soy sauce 1 tablespoon mirin 1 tablespoon of sake 1 tablespoon sugar Let's start preparing the sauce. Put the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar in a saucepan and bring to touch the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once melted sugar will ready the sauce. let cool and set aside.
Cut the chicken into cubes of 4-5 cm in size and make sure that each skewer to have four pieces of the same size. Clean the leek and cut them into pieces the same width of the leek. Begin to make the skewers, alternating the meat with leek. Arrange the skewers on a baking tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper.
Pour a little sauce on each skewer without over because it may burn during cooking. Then bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees (celsius) for 15 minutes (cooking may vary depending on the size of the pieces you have cut). Once the chicken baked, glazed with additional sauce and serve.