Matsukaze Yaki Recipe

Matsukaze Yaki is a baked ground chicken dish with strong seasonings, and it is often used in Osechi Ryori, the Japanese New Year’s feast.  Matsukaze Yaki is usually baked in a mold and cut into shapes like fans and squares, then the surface is decorated with poppy seeds.  Matsukaze Yaki’s elegant look is perfect to celebrate the beginning of a year.

Matsukaze Yaki originated from old Japanese cookies that have the same name.  It’s often said that these cookies were first created in the Kyoto area hundreds of years ago, but the real origin is unknown.  Matsukaze cookies also have a surface topped with poppy seeds, so the chicken version may well be based on this old sweet.  Sometimes this dish is called Chicken Matsukaze Yaki to differentiate from the cookies.

Ground chicken is often seasoned with Miso and sugar, then molded and baked in an oven.  If you prefer, you could braise the pressed meat in a pan with a lid instead.  The cooked meat is then cut into shapes that bring good luck, such as a fan shape (wider at the other end meaning prosperity in the future) or squares to make a checkered pattern (repeating patterns meaning prosperity of descendants), then decorated with poppy seeds and dried green seaweed.  If you use it as a part of Osechi Ryori, it could be made a day ahead and placed in a serving container called Jyubako which is often used to hold all the dishes of Osechi.  Or you can just plate up and serve as a pretty appetizer.  If you have a hard time finding white poppy seeds, that’s ok, substitute with sesame seeds.

Matsukaze Yaki is very easy to make, and especially since it can done ahead, it is a good one to make for Osechi when you want to cook only a couple of easy dishes. Enjoy this traditional dish to start your new year!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Matsukaze Yaki Recipe

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: osechi

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Ingredients

• 1 dried Shiitake Mushroom
• 2 Tbsp long white onion chopped
• 14 oz ground chicken
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Sake
• 1 Tbsp Mirin
• 1 Tbsp Miso paste
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Aonori
• white poppy seeds or sesame seeds

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Instructions

• Preheat oven at 500 F (260 C).
• Rehydrate mushroom for 15 minutes. Squeeze water out and mince. Chop long white onion finely.
• In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all the ingredients, except seaweed and sesame seeds.
• Spread meat mixture flat in a 6″x6″ mold or something similar, lined with parchment paper.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
• Cool to room temperature. Cut in half, then sprinkle dried green seaweed on one side and sesame seeds on the other. Slice into narrow fan shapes.

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