Allergy-friendly Chicken Meatball Yakitori (Tsukune)
Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs) is a classic yakitori specialty, but like most meatballs, it's tough to get a great result without breadcrumbs and/or eggs (two very common allergens). Fortunately, amazingly tender, delicious, and allergy-friendly tsukune can be made with a little help from the internet's favorite new (and weird) ingredient: aquafaba.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 450 g ground chicken thighs ((see note))
- 150 g medium tofu
- 1/4 cup aquafaba
- 1.5 tbsp aka (red) miso ((see note))
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice ((preferably fresh ground))
- 10 g ginger
- 1.5 tsp sesame oil
- scallions (thinly sliced, to garnish (optional))
- shichimi togarashi (to garnish (optional))
- 1 cup tamari ((or shoyu/soy sauce))
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup sake
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 15 g ginger ((~4 cm/1.5 inch, thinly sliced))
- 30 g scallions ((about 5-6 stalks, green portion only))
- 4 garlic cloves ((~15 g))
Instructions
- 1
Combine the liquid ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the ginger, scallions and garlic cloves and simmer over medium-high heat until the sauce is reduced by about half (about 15-20 minutes). It should be glossy and relatively thick. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- 2
Strain the solids and store the sauce in a sealed container. Unused sauce can be refrigerated for up to a month.
- 3
Place the tofu on a large plate, then put a heavy plate or two on top of it to press out the excess liquid. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then pour off the liquid and mash the tofu in preparation for the next step.
- 4
In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all of the chicken tsukune ingredients. Try to make sure that your tofu is well mashed before you mix it in, as it's difficult to break big chunks once they're mixed into the chicken.
- 5
(Optional) If you have time to spare, you can chill the mixture in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This makes it a little easier to shape and work with.
- 6
Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into your hands and rub them together. Take a generous dollop of the chicken mixture and place it in one hand. Shape the ball into a long, relatively flat patty of meat, then run a skewer through the center. Place the completed skewer on a flat surface, ideally a large baking tray. (IMPORTANT - the mixture is quite sticky and the skewers are difficult to transfer - see the note below about getting them onto the grill).
- 7
Preheat a grill until it's hot enough to sear the chicken (while the grill itself should be hot when the chicken touches it, you can cook the skewers over a moderate flame or on a medium electric grill).
- 8
Brush a bit of tare sauce on the uncooked chicken skewers, then place them (sauce-side down) onto the grill. Brush a little more tare sauce on the exposed surface. Allow the chicken to cook for at least 3-4 minutes before attempting to turn the skewers.
- 9
Flip the skewers, brush with tare sauce again, and cook on the other side for an additional 3 minutes or so. Flip the skewers a few more times, brush on more sauce each time, until the chicken is cooked through (about 2-3 more minutes).
- 10
Remove the skewers from the grill and set them aside to cool. Add a dash of tare sauce (if your sauce came into contact with raw chicken, you should probably use some clean reserved sauce) and garnish with shichimi togarashi and scallions. Serve immediately.