Negima Yakitori 2 Ways (Grilled Chicken Skewers) / 焼き鳥ねぎま
Today we're showing you how to make Negima, a Japanese chicken and scallion skewer, both in a classic way as well as with a modern take from a Yakitori Master!
Equipment
- grill
- bamboo skewers
- pot
Ingredients
- chicken thighs you may have to break down a whole chicken to get the oyster and inner thigh for the Super Fusion Tender Pop
- green onions look for thick stems, at least 1 cm
- 200 ml sake
- 200 ml mirin
- 30 ml sugar
- 75 ml soy sauce
- salt
Instructions
Skin-on Negima Prep (refer to Yakitoriguy's Skin-on Negima video linked above)
- Cut the green onion (just the crunchy, meaty white and green parts) into 3cm pieces.
- Debone your thigh meat. Cut the thigh meat with the skin on into 3cm by 4cm pieces.
- Place one green onion between two meats.
- Skewer through the skin, then through the muscle. Roll and pinch the meat and push the skewer through the muscle and out of the skin.
- Skewer the onion through the middle. Then skewer the chicken once again like the previous step.
- Trim the sides to make the skewers neat and even.
Super Fusion Tender Pop Prep (refer to Yakitoriguy's Super Fusion Tender Pop video embedded above)
- Cut the green onion (just the crunchy, meaty white and green parts) into 3cm pieces.
- Trim off the inner thigh. Cut through the oyster and push hard down into the skin.
- The side of the thigh where you cut off the oyster is the fatty thigh. There's a strip of fat going down the side. Cut that section off into 3x5cm pieces.
- Skewer through the inner though on one end. Pinch the inner thigh and skewer through.
- Skewer through the fatty thigh, skin first, then the muscle.
- Skewer through a piece of onion. Then fold the Fatty Thigh over and skewery through,
- Lastly, grab the oyster. Skewer through the skin and muscle. Pinch and roll and pierce out the muscle and skin.
- Trim the sides to clean up.
To make the tare (sauce)
- Add 200 ml sake and 200 ml mirin into a sauce pan or small pot. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to medium to simmer and evaporate the alcohol. (If you can't find mirin, you can substitute with sake and double up the sugar)
- After 20 minutes of simmering, add 30 ml sugar (about 3 tbsp). Stir and keep the pot simmering.
- After another 20 minutes, add 75 ml of soy sauce, stir, and let it continue to simmer. Make sure to use Japanese soy sauce as the flavor/style is different from Chinese, Southeast Asian, etc. types.
- Continue to simmer for 10-20 minutes until the tare reduces and thickens a bit (but not like ketchup thick). This tare is used for dipping or brushing on.
- Store the yakitori tare in a container with a lid to use for this yakitori and future recipes that require a teriyaki sauce. Glass mason jar or soup takeout container works.
Grilling
- Heat up your outdoor charcoal, gas grill, or indoor electric grill.
- Using your finger or salt shaker, sprikle salt (kosher or sea salt is better than table salt) on top, bottom, and sides of the skewers.
- Spray or brush sake onto your skewers.
- Place skewers skin side down on the grill.
- After a minute or so, when the side of the chicken starts cooking hot, it'll start sweating out chicken juices. Tat the point, flip it over so the hot juices stay on the chicken. This makes sure you get juicy yakitori. Keep flipping every minute and cook the sides as well.
- When the yakitori looks golden on all sides, it's almost done. Dip your yakitori in the tare (or brush it on) and put it back on the grill.
- Caramelize the top and bottom for 30-45 seconds each on the grill.
- Plate and serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe by: Yakitoriguy
Head to YouTube.com/Yakitoriguy for step-by-step, authentic yakitori tutorials.