How to Make Japanese Chicken Skewers

These delicious chicken skewers are a staple of Japanese cooking. The addition of large green onions and shiitake mushrooms cooked over hot coals enhances the flavor of the chicken.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
• ½ lb fresh shiitake mushrooms
• ½ lb large green onions, sometimes called Japanese negi
• 2 c ginger-sake sauce, see related articles for the recipe
• 1 package wooden skewers

1. Soak the wooden skewers in cold water until the time they are ready to be used.

2. Cut the meat into pieces 1 ½-inch in size. Place the pieces of chicken into a gallon-sized resealable plastic bag.

3. Pour enough ginger-sake sauce into the bag to cover the chicken well. Seal the bag while squeezing out as much air as possible. Refrigerate any extra sauce for basting later.

4. Refrigerate the marinating chicken for at least two hours, though the longer the meat marinates, the better the flavor will be.

5. While the meat is marinating, start heating an outdoor barbeque or an indoor grill. If you are using an indoor grill, you won’t need to heat it until 10 minutes before cooking.

6. Clean the shiitake mushrooms by gently wiping off the crowns of the mushrooms with a slightly-damp towel. Set aside.

7. Wash the green onions well and set aside. To wash green onions well, fill a large bowl with water and dunk the onions into the water and vigorously agitate the onions. Discard the water and re-fill the bowl with fresh water. This should free much of the sandy soil that onions are gown in. Repeat this procedure until the water is clear after washing the onions.

8. Cut the woody stem off the mushrooms and discard. Cut a shallow cross into the top of the crown of the mushrooms, this will help to cook the shiitake fully. The cuts should not be more than ¼-inch deep.

9. Cut the root end of the onions off and discard. Cut the green top of the onions and discard. Cut the onions into slices 2-inches long.

10. Take the marinated chicken out of the refrigerator and discard the marinade.

11. Thread the soaked skewers with chicken, onions and mushrooms. Leave at least ¼-inch space between each piece of food on the skewer so they will all cook equally.

12. Lightly oil the grill with some vegetable oil to aid in releasing the cooked skewers.

13. Place the loaded skewers onto the heated grill and cook on one side for approximately eight minutes. During this time, baste the skewers with the remaining sauce.

14. Once one side of the skewers is cooked and has strong black grill marks, turn the skewer over and cook for an additional eight minutes. Baste with more of the sauce.

15. The skewers are done when the onions start to become aromatic and turn slightly translucent in the outer layers.

16. Serve immediately.

Tips & Warnings

• When looking for large green onions, look for onions that have large stalks with a larger portion of white compared to green. The thick white part of the onion is the portion you will use for this recipe.
• If you have trouble finding the kind of onions you want, try looking at a well-stocked asian grocer.
• You can also substitute leeks for the large green onions in this recipe, though the flavor will be different from the original.
• You can also use square metal skewers to cook the food on. The square shape means that the food can’t easily rotate on the skewer. The downside is the metal gets hot when the skewers are being grilled. You can hang the end of the skewers off the grill so the end is not over direct heat. If you do this, make sure that your food is still evenly cooking.

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[amylaine]

on 5/10/2008 sounds great.