Shishito Tsukune Recipes

TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Make the keto teriyaki sauce. Set it aside to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, add ingredients from chicken to egg yolk.
• Grate the ginger and squeeze the juice into the bowl. You should have about 1 tbsp ginger juice. Grate the shallot and add the entire mixture into the bowl.
• Stir the meat (I use a pair of chopsticks) in one direction until they become very sticky, about 2 minutes. If you have a stand mixer, use it to help you bind the meat together.
• Line a large sheet pan with parchment. Use a cookie scoop to form 13 meatballs and place them on the sheet. My scoop is about 3 tbsp per scoop.
• Grease your hands with some olive oil. This will prevent the meat from sticking to your hands. Shape the meatballs into a smooth surface.
• Flatten the meatballs into small patties (about ½-inch thick). Pan fry them with avocado oil over medium heat about 2.5 minutes on the first side. Flip the patties and brush with teriyaki sauce. Fry the second side for about 1.5 minutes. Flip the patties again, brush with more sauce, and fry 1.5 minutes more.
• Use a narrow flat skewer with a handle at one end and a perforated grill tray or grill grid on top of your grill surface to support the skewers or they will fall apart.
• Flatten the meatballs into small patties (about ½-inch thick) and thread them onto the skewers. Brush the grill tray with avocado oil. Cradle the entire skewer in your hand to keep the meat on the stick and place it on the grill grid.
• Grill the first side about 3-4 minutes, rotate to grill the second side about 2-3 minutes, and rotate again to grill for 15-30 seconds longer. Brush with the teriyaki sauce as you rotate the skewers.
• Brush with a thin layer of teriyaki sauce and serve over butter lettuce. Enjoy it while it's sizzling hot!

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.

BLISTERED SHISHITO PEPPERS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, toss the peppers with the oil. Heat a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet over high until a drop of water smokes on the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. (You may want to turn on your vent, too.)
• Add the peppers in a single layer and cook, without touching, until blistered underneath, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and cook until blistered in spots, puffed, and tender, another 1 to 2 minutes. Season with flaky salt and serve right away.