Japanese Chicken Meatballs Recipes

TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a small pot over low heat. Add 1 teaspoon ginger and garlic; cook and stir until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup tamari, 1/4 cup sake, mirin, brown sugar, and sesame seeds; simmer until glaze is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Combine ground chicken, egg, green onions, carrot, bread crumbs, miso, 2 tablespoons ginger, potato starch, seaweed, 1 tablespoon tamari, 1 tablespoon sake, soy sauce, white sugar, and paprika in a large bowl; mix well into a thick paste, at least 5 minutes.
• Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Roll ground chicken mixture into balls the size of your palm. Flatten them slightly into patties. Grill until well-browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and continue grilling until browned on the second side, 2 to 3 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
• Brush glaze over meatballs before serving.

TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS) RECIPE

Steps:

• For the Tare Sauce: Combine mirin, soy sauce, sake, brown sugar, sherry vinegar, garlic, scallions, ginger slices, and peppercorns in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer, whisk to combine, and cook until mixture is thick and syrupy, about 45 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Set aside or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• For the Meatballs: Using hands, mix together chicken, bread crumbs, scallions, egg, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper until thoroughly combined. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs and thread onto skewers.
• Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over entire surface of charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Careful transfer skewers to grill, if necessary supporting meatballs from bottom to prevent them from falling off skewers. Grill until first side is well browned, about 3-4 minutes. Using tongs, rotate meatballs and cook until well browned on second side, about 2-3 minutes. Repeat for remaining two sides.
• Brush tare sauce all over meatballs and allow to cook for 15-30 seconds longer. Transfer skewers to a plate or serving dish, brush lightly with sauce again and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Add all the Sauce ingredients to a pot and bring it to the boil. Turn down the heat to medium or medium low and simmer for about 4-5 minutes to reduce the quantity by about a third (note 2).
• Add chicken mince, chicken fat and salt in a bowl and mix well until the chicken mince becomes sticky.
• Add the remaining ingredients, except 1 tablespoon of sake, to the bowl and mix well.
• Add the remaining sake to the bowl gradually while mixing. The mixture is quite soft but do not add all of the sake specified if the mixture is too soft to grab by hand and form a ball.
• Boil water in a pot. Coat a cutlery spoon with oil (not in ingredients).
• Grab chicken mince with the left hand (I am a right hander) and squeeze out mince through the thumb and the index finger. The mince will come out forming a round shape (note 3).
• Take the meatball with the spoon and drop it into the pot. Repeat this for the rest of the mince (see the step-by-step photo in post).
• Boil meatballs for 5-7 minutes until cooked through (note 4). Take the meatballs out and put aside. Cook them in batches so that the surface of the boiling water is filled with no more than one layer of the meatballs.
• Heat griller, griddle or BBQ (note 6). Oil the rack/grill where you place the meatballs.
• Thread 3 Tsukune onto flat skewers (note 7).
• Baste tsukune with the sauce using a brush and cook under the griller or on the griddle/BBQ for 1-2 minutes until the meatballs are slightly burnt.
• Turn over the skewers and cook further 1-2 minutes. Then baste with the sauce, cook 30 seconds on both sides.
• Serve immediately.

JIDORI TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Bring 1 cup sake, 1 cup soy sauce, ½ cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), and ½ cup zarame sugar or demerara sugar to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced by about a quarter, 25-30 minutes. Do ahead: Tare can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
• If using 1 lb. skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, grind in a meat grinder fitted with a 7-mm die. Divide chicken into 2 equal portions and run 1 portion through grinder a second time. Combine both portions in a large bowl. (You can also ask your butcher to grind the chicken for you.)
• If using 1 lb. ground dark-meat chicken plus 2 Tbsp. chicken fat, mix together in a large bowl.
• Add ½ small onion, finely chopped, 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1¾ tsp. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), and 1½ tsp. finely grated yuzu or lemon zest to chicken meat. Using your hands, mix until thoroughly combined.
• Divide meat into ¼ cup portions. Shape into balls, then form into 3½x1" logs. Arrange tsukune on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place 1 cup glutinous sweet rice flour on a plate. Working one at a time, dredge tsukune in flour, turning to coat, and transfer as many as will snugly fit to a parchment-lined large steamer basket.
• Pour water into a large saucepan to come 1" up sides and bring to a boil. Set steamer on top and cover. Steam tsukune until just cooked through, 6-8 minutes. Repeat process with any remaining tsukune if needed.
• Prepare a grill for high heat. Place tare in a tall, narrow glass (you should be able to submerge tsukune when you dunk it in the tare). Thread each tsukune onto a skewer.
• Grill tsukune, turning and dipping in tare every 2 minutes, until richly glazed, deeply browned, and charred in spots, about 8 minutes total.
• Transfer to a platter and sprinkle shichimi togarashi over. Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.