Chicken Yakitori with Homemade Tare Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 Whole chicken (Broken down; breasts and thighs set aside for skewers, carcass and wings for tare)
• 2 bunches Spring onions (Divided; one bunch for roasting with carcass, one bunch for skewering)
• Olive oil (Drizzle for roasting bones)
• Sea salt (To taste)
• Black pepper (To taste)
• 500 ml Sake (For tare sauce; plus extra in a spray bottle for grilling)
• 500 ml Mirin (For tare sauce)
• 1 piece Kombu (For tare sauce)
• 4 Dried shiitake mushrooms (For tare sauce)
• 50 g Sugar (For tare sauce)
• 200 ml Soy sauce (50:50 ratio of dark and light soy sauce)
• Fresh chives (Finely chopped for garnish)
• Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven-spice powder for garnish)

Steps

1. 1

   Break down a whole chicken. Set aside the breasts and thighs for the skewers, and keep the carcass and wings for the sauce base.

2. 2

   Preheat your oven to 220°C (425°F). Place the chicken carcass and wings onto a baking tray. Add a bunch of spring onions, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

3. 3

   Bake for approximately 30 minutes until the bones and wings are deeply browned and caramelized.

4. 4

   To start the tare sauce, add 500ml sake and 500ml mirin to a large pot. Add the roasted chicken carcass, wings, and scallions from the tray into the pot. Add a piece of kombu and dried shiitake mushrooms.

5. 5

   Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it infuse for 30 minutes.

6. 6

   Add approximately 50g of sugar to the pot and stir until completely dissolved.

7. 7

   Pour in 200ml of soy sauce (ideally a 50/50 mix of light and dark soy). Continue to simmer for at least one hour to reduce and thicken.

8. 8

   Strain the tare sauce through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids, and set the liquid aside.

9. 9

   Prepare the skewers: Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the chicken breasts and roll them up. Skewer the meat, alternating with pieces of fresh green onion.

10. 10

    Season the prepared skewers with sea salt and black pepper.

11. 11

    Set up your grill (preferably a Konro grill) with binchotan charcoal. Light the charcoal and wait until it is white-hot.

12. 12

    Place the chicken skewers on the grill. Rotate them frequently to ensure even cooking.

13. 13

    While grilling, occasionally spray the chicken with sake to help the sugars caramelize.

14. 14

    Once the chicken is nearly cooked, gently brush the skewers with the prepared tare sauce until a glossy glaze forms.

15. 15

    Remove from the grill and let the chicken rest for a few minutes. Garnish with chopped chives and shichimi pepper before serving.

Notes

The tare recipe is adapted from @yakitoriguy. You can customize the tare by adding other aromatics like ginger or garlic during the infusion stage. Binchotan charcoal is recommended for the most authentic smoky flavor.

Nutrition per serving

• main
• dinner
• grilled
• Japanese
• yakitori
• chicken
• BBQ
• high-protein