Yakitori

Yakitori

basic information

Yakitori - Skewered grilled chicken

Yakitori is grilled chicken speared on sticks. All different parts of the chicken, thighs, skin, liver, etc. can be used for yakitori. The following recipe shows one of the most popular kind which is prepared with chicken thighs and leek.

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Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs: without bone and skin
• Japanese leek (negi*), leek, or green onion
• Soya sauce
• Mirin* or sake*
• Sugar
• Honey or maple syrup
• Small wooden spears

* This ingredient may not be available in Western supermarkets, but you should be able to find it in Japanese grocery stores that exist in most large European and American cities.

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Preparation:

1. Mix together 4 tablespoons of soya sauce, 3 tablespoons of sugar, a little bit of honey or maple syrup, a little bit of mirin and water, and heat it up until it's homogenous.

2. Cut the chicken thighs into about 3x2x2cm large pieces.

3. Put the chicken pieces into the already prepared sauce, and let it stand for a while.

4. Cut the leek or green onions in about 3 cm long pieces.

5. Spear three or four pieces of chicken and some leek on each wooden stick.

6. Grill them, or use the oven at 200 degrees celsius. (You may want to wrap the wooden sticks with aluminium foil; otherwise, they may burn off.)

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki

basic information

Okonomiyaki is a mixture between pancake and pizza. "Okonomi" means "as you like". This refers to the ingredients.

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Ingredients:

• Dough
  • 300 g flour
  • 210 ml water
  • 2 eggs
  • Cabbage
• Possible ingredients to put into/onto Okonomiyaki
  • Katsuobushi*: Dried, shaved benito (katsuo)
    
  • Aonori*: Green, dried seaweed.
    
  • Leek or green onion
  • Beef: thinly sliced or ground
  • Pork: thinly sliced or ground
  • Chicken: breast filets
  • Octopus*
  • Squid*
  • Prawn
  • Tuna
  • Mushrooms
  • and much more...
• Sauces
  • Brown okonomiyaki sauce*
  • Mayonnaise
    

* May not be available in Western supermarkets; but you should be able to find it in Japanese grocery stores that exist in most large European and American cities.

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Preparation:

1. Cut four large, green cabbage leaves without the hard, white core in thin strings (ca. 4 mm).

2. Mix the water, flour, eggs and the cabbage strings together.
3. You may now add more ingredients to the dough: e.g. seafood, cut in little pieces, ground meat, cut mushrooms, etc.

4. Fry the dough like a pancake in a small frying pan.

5. Before turning the okonomiyaki over, and while the dough is still quite soft, you may put other ingredients on top of the dough.

6. Turn the okonomiyaki.
7. When fried well, serve the okonomiyaki with katsuobushi, aonori, mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce.