鶏串- にわとりくし Niwatori Kushi - Chicken Skewers

Konnichi-wa! Your Gaijin-Gourmet is back from another round in the dojo and back in the kitchen to bring you something simple and easy to make to suit your Japanese inspired tastes. Now with spring officially here, barbecuing season will be kicking into full swing before long. So to start spring off I thought I would give you something we were inspired to make while watching an episode of the 2004 NHK Taiga Drama Shinsengumi. Spring had hit the show and the Samurai were all enjoying teriyaki chicken skewers along the rest stops along the Old Tokaido Road. It looked so OIISHII that this modern day Bushi had to try it ourselves and offer it to you. Niwatori Kushi or teriyaki chicken on skewers as an easy dish you can make anywhere.  And when I mean anywhere I mean here in the US or in Japan with ease. As I have stated before, what I offer here is nothing original but simple easy to make Japanese inspired dishes where ingredients and ease of assembly make Japanese cooking accessible to anyone. And with that disclaimer out of the way, let's get cooking!

As with any meal found on here, you'll need a few ingredients to get started.
1/2 lb of chicken breast
1/2 Cup of Teriyaki Sauce for Marinade
1 pkg Wooden Skewers
1 pkg Aluminum Foil
1 Basting Brush

OK this might not sound like rocket science but its always good to cover the basics. Take a 1/2 lb package of chicken breasts and clean with cold water. Cut away any excess fat for preparation. You can use thigh meat but you'll spend more time trimming fat so I recommend sticking with breast meat.

Once your meat is cleaned and trimmed of fat, take your breast meat and cut in 1 1/2 to 2 inch bite size slices.

Place your chicken slices and place into a bowl or mixing container.
Pour the Teriyaki Sauce to marinate.
Refrigerate for one hour.

Easy enough so far ne?

Good! - Let's continue!

After a good hour, take out your wooden skewers and place up to four pieces of teriyaki marinated chicken on each skewer. Don't place more than four per skewer. If you have ever seen anyone eating Niwatori Kushi on an NHK Taiga Drama, you'll only see four pieces on that skewer. Remember, it's not a Shish kabob. It's Japanese!

Now if you noticed, we earlier mentioned using aluminum foil. You'll use this for your gas BBQ or Japanese Hibachi Grill. Either method of grilling will work out fine. I reccommend taking the foil and lining the edge of the grill. The reason for this is if you have ever grilled shish kabobs before it's not uncommon for the skewers to catch fire and burn away. Lining your grill with foil will help prevent that so you can cook a nice presentable Niwatori. Remember, in Japanese cooking presentation is very important. わかりますか?

Line your niwatori right up to the edge of the foil. After 15 minutes, baste with a brush additional teriyaki sauce for flavor and according to taste. We really love teriyaki so we baste this a few times before serving. Remember to baste both sides.

Cook until golden. Don't do like the Ren-Faire guys do and burn the meat. Remember, presentation!

This dish can be served with sushi rice, noodles, or our favorite Yasai-no-Fukumeni which we previously posted how to make here.  We hope you have a prosperous spring and fun おいいしい Japanese inspired cooking! Enjoy!

おいいしい!

おやこ どんぶり Oyako Donburi

Welcome back! Today I present to you an easy Donburi. If you are new to Japanese cooking, Donburi means rice bowl dish. Donburi's can be made with chicken, meats, or fish. For today I offer you an easy chicken donburi made with simple ingredients you can find pretty much anywhere. Now as we have stated in the very beginning of this blog , this is not my original creation or am I trying to deprive anyone of making money. My intention is to show you my cooking experience and how you can easily follow along to make both traditional Japanese meals or easy to make Japanese inspired meals. Wakarimasu ka? Okay then!

Now that I have my usual disclaimer out of the way let’s get cooking. よい? はじめましょお!

So let’s go over what we’ll need:

1/2 lb chicken breast - or more
4 eggs
4 dried Shitake Mushrooms – or more!
1 onion
¼ cup Water
1tsp Sugar
3tsp Mirin
4 tsp of Soy Sauce
Rice
Garnish - みつば - Optional

So the first thing you’ll want to do is unpack those dried shitake mushrooms and soak them in water. Soak them for no less than ten minutes. If there are any stems cut them off.

You’ll later slice the mushrooms in half before you are ready to use them.

Next, take your chicken breasts and slice them diagonally and then into to bite sized pieces. And then return them to the refrigerator until ready to use.
At this early stage you’ll also want to slice up your onion into thin slices. Now don’t be shy! You’ll want those onions in there. Trust me!

Depending on how much food you plan to make you may need to add an additional egg or two.
 
But if it’s just for two then stick with the program and beat four eggs together until they are ready for use.
 
 
 
 
So now if you have your chicken, mushrooms, and oinions sliced, you are almost ready to go. But first you'll need to mix your simmering sauce. I had made this Donburi before from Yukio Moriyama's book Japanese Cuisine. But as I have discovered there is always a slight deviation from her recipie when I am cooking. Sometimes, I stray from the measurements and just eyeball it to my taste. I think many people do this and in most cases it's ok. But if you are not sure of your cooking abilities then for the time being stick with the recipie.
 
So if you are ready to make your simmiring sauce, mix together 1.4 cup of water into a bowl. Do not go over a 1/4 cup as I ususally tend to do or you will end up having to drain the water midway during cooking. This can skew your results so try to avoid this. Mix your water together with the soy sauce, mirin, and no more than that tsp of sugar.
 

Next, pour your simmiring sauce into a good sized skillet and bring to a boil. Once boiling add in your chicken, onions, and mushrooms. Cook them until the chicken appears done and the onions tender.
 
This should take about 2-3 minutes.
 
 
 
 
 

 
If your chicken, onion, mushroom mix appears ready, pour the beaten eggs into the mix and cover for around one minute.
 

The optional part of the recipie calls for a garnish to be added in. The Japanese recipie uses a garnish called mitsuba but if you can not find mitsuba any regular garnish in small amounts will do. This is mostly done for presentation. This is of course entirely optional.
 
 
 
 
 
If you have your rice already cooked then you can serve up the contents of your skillet. Place rice into a bowl then place the chicken & egg mix over the rice. If you have any left over simmering sauce left over you can pour a small amount to sweeten your donburi. This makes for an easy meal suitable for lunch or a light dinner. Not to mention it is relatively inexpensive to make. And you know that's always a plus! So please come again! I hope you enjoy this recipie. Enjoy!