QUICK & SIMPLE RECIPES – JAPANESE YAKITORI (GRILLED MEAT SKEWERS)

Hi there,

I have got a quick & simple recipe here for you, Japanese Yakitori, those little tantalizing skewers of meat & seafood that you get from stores like Tori-Q & yakitori restaurants.

During my schooling days, I have worked in a yakitori restaurants for few years, so I have always have a soft spot for this Japanese dish. It is so versatile, you can use anything you can think of & make your own Yakitori, vegetables, seafood, meat, even sweets. The combination is only limit by your imagination!

Today dinner, I have made some Yakitori for my family, menu include :

• Meat Balls (instead of chicken meat balls, I used pork meat balls)
• Prawns wrapped with pork
• Enoki mushroom wrapped with pork
• Asparagus wrapped with pork

Ingredients needed will be as follows :

• Frozen mince pork x 2 packs
• Prawns x around 10 (you can get the packed ones without the prawn heads, as I will teach you how to take the fishy smell away)
• Thai Baby Asparagus x 1/2 pack
• Enoki Mushroom x 1 pack
• Tofu x 1/2 pack
• Garlic or garlic powder x 3 minced cloves or 1 tablespoon
• Onion x 1/2 (grated or finely chopped)

 

Marinates for meat balls : sesame seeds, soya sauce, chinese wine, pepper (1 teaspoon each)

Directions :

1.  For meat balls, use a plastic bag, and combine mince pork;  grated onions, minced garlic, tofu, with the marinades and mashed it up. (you can add one egg if you want the meat balls to be extra succulent)

(Tip#1 : Use plastic bags to make the meat balls, the lesser the dishes to wash the better it is. The meat mixture will also be evenly mixed using plastic bags.  When you are shaping the meat balls, all you need to do is cut out  the tip of the plastic bag, and squeeze out meat balls, hassle free! The tofu is a good combining agent for the meat balls, you do not need to use bread & milk, but tofu will be sufficient)

2.  For prawns, if you get fresh prawns, that is with the prawn head, deshelled & deveined, or just get those packed ones in the cooler without the prawn heads.

(Tip#2 : Soak in a little chinese wine, this will help to take away any fishy smell, and the prawns will smell divine when you fry them. This works on other seafood too.)

3.  Wrap prawns, asaparagus & enoki mushroom with pork belly.

(Tip#3 : Wrapped with pork belly around 4 sticks of asparagus, then cut it into 3 parts, this way, the meat will be wrapped nicely while you grill it ; For prawns, you will only need half slice of pork belly to wrap, while asparagus & enoki mushroom will require full slice of pork belly)

4.  Cut the tip of the plastic bag, and squeeze out meat balls  into boiling water. Sieve out meat balls that float to the top, that means they are cooked.

(Tip#4 : The broth used to boil the meat balls will be really tasty, so do not throw it away, rather just keep it over night in the fridge & scoop out the oil on the top layer to get the essence of the soup, use it for noodles or stew, etc)

5.  Pan fry the prawns wrapped with pork until the pork belly is crispy, follow up with  the asparagus with pork & enoki mushroom, pour some BBQ sauce or soya sauce + cooking wine to make the savory yakitori sauce.

(Tips#5 : you can use a grilling pan  instead of a fry pan too, that way you will use less oil, but I use 1 pan to cook all 3 dishes, as I do not like too much washing)

6. Do not wash the pan, and put in all the boiled meat balls, add some yakitori sauce (BBQ sauce), and fry it for around 3 mins, until the top layer is caramelized to give that little BBQ taste.

(Tips#6 : you can use any kind of sauce, like Korean BBQ sauce as well)

You can use the yakitori on rice, to make it a yakitori rice bowl, or just have it like a main dish. These recipes are great for outdoor BBQ as well, especially the meat balls, because they are already pre cooked, so you will only need to heat them up on the BBQ pit. Kids absolutely love this dish. Try it out & have some fun with it.

Happy Cooking!

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Cheers

Dawn