Food on skewers always makes a beautiful presentation. Joyce Tomonari of Kakaako has perfected Japanese chicken meatballs, called tsukune, that are cooked and served on sticks. They are considered perfect bar food, and special cups on restaurant tables are designated for discarding the sticks. It’s a gracious idea — hiding the evidence so no one can tell how many you have eaten!
In Japan, tsukune are usually prepared over a charcoal grill, but Tomonari has devised an easy way for home cooks to broil them.
After tasting tsukune both here and in Japan, Tomonari tried many recipes before crafting her own. We benefit from her trials and errors.
She starts with ground chicken (Tomonari cautions not grinding your own using breast meat — it will be too dry). She cooks one-third of the chicken, cools it and mixes it with the remaining raw chicken. To get the silky consistency that is a trademark of tsukune, she uses a standing mixer and beats the mixture for three minutes. That’s one of her updated techniques. She used to beat by hand for 50 strokes in each direction. The tsukune would be delicious, but she would have a sore arm.
Seasonings that flavor the mild-tasting ground chicken include two kinds of miso, sesame oil and shiso leaves. Tomonari doesn’t add salt; she says the miso is salty enough. She likes a combination of stronger-flavored red miso with white, but you can use what you have. Tomonari also recommends incorporating finely minced yellow onions over traditional green onions, as they add moisture and a neutral color. The tsukune already has strips of green from the shiso.
Once the meat is ready, she uses sesame oil to coat her hands and shapes the meat into ovals, then skewers them onto bamboo sticks.
Tomonari’s tsukune go into the oven, arranged on a pan with the meat sides facing outward. This way, a single foil strip can be placed over the exposed skewer ends to prevent burning.
The final touch is a drizzle of red ume paste (sold in squeeze bottles); this adds welcomed saltiness and sourness. A sprinkling of refreshing shiso leaves adds more bright color. The ume paste acts like glue so the leaves easily stick.
The combination of colors, spices and textures make for a memorable presentation.
Tomonari prepares this dish when she serves a Japanese-themed dinner, saying it’s easy to do.
The possible versions are endless.
In Japan, she has seen small sticks of cheese inserted into the tsukune before cooking. She’s also had tsukune with a teriyaki glaze or salt instead of the ume/shiso garnish. You could also consider making small meatballs and use toothpicks instead of skewers.
Any way it’s done, bet you can’t eat just one.
TSUKUNE (GROUND CHICKEN SKEWERS)
By Joyce Tomonari
- 24 to 30 (6-inch) bamboo skewers
- 12 shiso leaves, divided
- 2-1/2 pounds ground chicken, divided
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil, plus more for coating your hands
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 1 tablespoon red miso
- 2 heaping tablespoons finely minced yellow onion
- Ume paste, for garnish
Soak skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent them from burning. Line a baking pan with foil. Roll shiso leaves, then slice finely (a chiffonade cut) and set aside.
Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium (no oil is needed). Add 1/3 of ground chicken and cook until no longer pink. Cool.
Place cooked chicken and remaining raw chicken into a mixing bowl. Add sesame oil, miso, onions and half the shiso chiffonade. Use a mixer on medium speed to blend ingredients for 2 minutes, then increase speed to high for 1 more minute, or until meat is pale in color. This step is important for meat to get sticky enough to stay on the stick.
Coat hands with sesame oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Divide meat into uniform portions of about 2-1/2 tablespoons, using an ice cream scoop or spoon. Take one scoop in your hands and gently form into a long oval patty, about 3 inches long. Insert a skewer and place on the prepared baking pan with the meat end of the stick facing outward. Repeat to use up chicken mixture.
At this point, tsukune can be frozen. Defrost before broiling.
Move baking rack to 6 inches from top of oven; heat oven to high broil for 5 minutes. Cover exposed ends of skewers with a foil strip (the ends should be lined up in the center of the pan). Broil meat 6 minutes. Remove from oven and flip skewers, recover exposed skewers with foil and broil another 4 minutes, until nicely browned. Arrange tsukune on a serving plate.
Squeeze a thin line of ume paste on chicken and garnish with remaining shiso. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 24 to 30 skewers (depending on how large you make the meatballs).
This recipe is easily halved or doubled.
Approximate nutritional information, per skewer (based on 30 skewers): 80 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, no fiber or sugar, 6 g protein.
Lynette Lo Tom, author of “Back in the Day,” is fascinated by old-fashioned foods. Contact her at 275-3004 or via instagram at brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
