In our mini-series of Japanese Cooking 101 in Kyoto, we are going to different stores from traditional to trendy, and show you a glimpse of the culinary scene of Kyoto in 2023. After we tasted delicious food at stores, we tried to recreate those dishes, not exactly but more in our own way, at home in Kyoto. We hope you enjoy our Japanese Cooking 101 food in a little different setting from our regular videos.
Our final episode is Yakitori Restaurant Yakitori. Yakitori (焼き鳥) is skewered and grilled chicken, as many of you may already know. Sometimes they’re dipped in a Teriyaki-type Yakitori sauce, or simply seasoned with salt at other times. Our original Yakitori recipe calls for chicken thighs because we think it’s the most flavorful part of the chicken for normal Yakitori. But there are also many different chicken parts that are used at Yakitori speciality restaurants in Japan. A few of the most popular parts are chicken skins, hearts, gizzards, and cartilage. Well, that may be beyond what many of us want to deal with at Yakitori shops. But if you are being adventurous, please go ahead and try something new. They are really good, with interesting textures, and that’s why people in Japan love those parts in Yakitori too.
We went to a popular Yakitori restaurant in Kyoto, Kushikura on Takakura street. It’s hard to find seats without a reservation even on weekdays. Kushikura’s restaurant is in a 100 year-old traditional Kyoto Machiya house. The Machiya old shop/residence building was renovated into a beautiful up-to-date kitchen facility with warm inviting counter seats and small private rooms in an old-fashioned atmosphere. Yakitori dishes cooked over a charcoal grill are delicious, of course, but vegetable side dishes using local ingredients are also wonderful at this restaurant. You can order a la carte, and they also offer several course dishes including chicken Sukiyaki.
What we made at home was Kushikura-inspired Tsukune skewered ground chicken and chicken tenders with Umeboshi plum sauce. We happened to have an electric Yakitori grill at home, but it can be easily done in a frying pan on the stove. We have a basic Yakitori recipe/video in our archives, and you can check it out as needed. Yakitori is great as a dinner dish, but also perfect for party dishes. It may be a little time consuming to skewer chicken on bamboo sticks, but they will be an instant hit with everyone, we promise. Try Tsukune and chicken tender Yakitori at home!
Yakitori Restaurant Yakitori
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Ingredients
Tsukune Yakitori
- 1/4 long white onion
- 7 oz ground chicken
- 1 tsp salt divided
- 1 tsp Sake
- 1 tsp ginger root minced
- 1 tsp Katakuriko potato starch
Chicken Tender Yakitori with Umeboshi Sauce
- 4 chicken tenders
- 3 Umeboshi pickled sour plums
- 4 Shiso leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Soak 12 bamboo skewers (6" long) in water for 30 minutes.
- Make Tsukune Yakitori. Mince ginger root finely. Chop long white onion finely. Combine the ground chicken, onion, 1/2 tsp salt, Sake, ginger root, and potato starch in a bowl and mix well. Divide into quarters.
- Oil hands. Take 1/4 chicken mixture and make an oblong shape. Skewer the meat with 2 bamboo sticks. Make three more, and refrigerate if needed (to cook later).
- Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt on the skewered Tsukune chicken before cooking. Cook chicken on a grill or in a frying pan with a little oil until the meat is cooked through.
- Make Chicken Tender Yakitori. Cut a strip of chicken tender into 4 pieces. Skewer chicken pieces on bamboo sticks, 4 pieces per stick.
- Remove the pits from Umeboshi plums and chop the plums to make a paste. Slice Shiso leaves very finely.
- Sprinkle salt on skewered chicken before cooking. Cook chicken on a grill or in a frying pan with a little oil until meat is cooked through. Top with Umeboshi plum paste and Shiso leaves.
Video
