Allergy-friendly Chicken Meatball Yakitori (Tsukune)
Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs) is a classic yakitori specialty, but like most meatballs, it's tough to get a great result without breadcrumbs and/or eggs (two very common allergens). Fortunately, amazingly tender, delicious, and allergy-friendly tsukune can be made with a little help from the internet's favorite new (and weird) ingredient: aquafaba.
Servings 12 skewers
Calories 113kcal
Ingredients
Chicken Tsukune
- 450 g ground chicken thighs (see note)
- 150 g medium tofu
- 1/4 cup aquafaba
- 1.5 tbsp aka (red) miso (see note)
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice (preferably fresh ground)
- 10 g ginger
- 1.5 tsp sesame oil
- scallions thinly sliced, to garnish (optional)
- shichimi togarashi to garnish (optional)
Tare Sauce
- 1 cup tamari (or shoyu/soy sauce)
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup sake
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 15 g ginger (~4 cm/1.5 inch, thinly sliced)
- 30 g scallions (about 5-6 stalks, green portion only)
- 4 garlic cloves (~15 g)
Instructions
Tare Sauce
- Combine the liquid ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the ginger, scallions and garlic cloves and simmer over medium-high heat until the sauce is reduced by about half (about 15-20 minutes). It should be glossy and relatively thick. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Strain the solids and store the sauce in a sealed container. Unused sauce can be refrigerated for up to a month.
Chicken Tsukune
- Place the tofu on a large plate, then put a heavy plate or two on top of it to press out the excess liquid. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then pour off the liquid and mash the tofu in preparation for the next step.
- In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all of the chicken tsukune ingredients. Try to make sure that your tofu is well mashed before you mix it in, as it's difficult to break big chunks once they're mixed into the chicken.
- (Optional) If you have time to spare, you can chill the mixture in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This makes it a little easier to shape and work with.
- Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into your hands and rub them together. Take a generous dollop of the chicken mixture and place it in one hand. Shape the ball into a long, relatively flat patty of meat, then run a skewer through the center. Place the completed skewer on a flat surface, ideally a large baking tray. (IMPORTANT - the mixture is quite sticky and the skewers are difficult to transfer - see the note below about getting them onto the grill).
- Preheat a grill until it's hot enough to sear the chicken (while the grill itself should be hot when the chicken touches it, you can cook the skewers over a moderate flame or on a medium electric grill).
- Brush a bit of tare sauce on the uncooked chicken skewers, then place them (sauce-side down) onto the grill. Brush a little more tare sauce on the exposed surface. Allow the chicken to cook for at least 3-4 minutes before attempting to turn the skewers.
- Flip the skewers, brush with tare sauce again, and cook on the other side for an additional 3 minutes or so. Flip the skewers a few more times, brush on more sauce each time, until the chicken is cooked through (about 2-3 more minutes).
- Remove the skewers from the grill and set them aside to cool. Add a dash of tare sauce (if your sauce came into contact with raw chicken, you should probably use some clean reserved sauce) and garnish with shichimi togarashi and scallions. Serve immediately.
Notes
If you can only find ground chicken breasts, use them plus a teaspoon of vegetable oil to make up for some of the lost fat content.
I quite like the flavour of a good red miso, but you could definitely use awase miso (mixed red and white), or even a not-too-sweet white miso. Feel free to experiment.
TRANSFERRING THE SKEWERS TO THE GRILL
The chicken mixture is quite sticky when uncooked, and it can be very difficult to transfer your skewers to the grill without making a mess of them. The best method to avoid catastrophy involves lining up all of your skewers on a baking tray (NOT a cutting board - it has to be heat-proof). When you're ready to cook, quickly turn the tray over onto the grill and give it a few taps to get the skewers to release. This not only gets everything cooking at the same time, it avoids the major hassle of trying to move the skewers without having them fall apart. HOWEVER - if you're going to do this, make sure you plan out the orientation of your skewers before they go on the grill. You want them to land perpendicular to the bars on your grill, not parallel. Plan accordingly, and make sure to have some tongs and oven/bbq mitts handy so you can work over a hot grill safely.
Nutrition
Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 553mg | Potassium: 98mg | Fiber: 0.04g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.7mg