Cos who the hell has the time or can be bothered squishing chicken through a wooden skewer only to push it all off again once cooked? Judge me all you want Japanese readers but I ain’t buyin it. The only skewer I have time for is one that’s prepared and cooked for me at an Isayaka in Tokyo whilst drinking a million Mirin beers and regretting nothing. Boo, writing this is making me feel extreme FOMO for me pre-baby wandering life. Until that day, I’ll do all that I can to bring the streets of Gion to my kitchen and that my friends only means one thing: Yakitori.
Mirin and Rice Wine Vinegar will be stocked in majority of supermarkets in the Asian/Japanese section.
Caramelised Chicken Yakitori Stir Fry
Serves 4
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 1 knob of ginger, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 4 chicken thighs, cubed – see note
- 4 spring onions, cut in 5cm pieces
- 1 cup snow peas – optional
- Rice or soba noodles to serve
Sauce…
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
In a cup combine the sauce ingredients together then leave aside.
Start off by having your ginger, garlic, chicken and spring onion chopped up and ready to go then heat a good glug of oil in a large wok and over a super high heat add the ginger and garlic. Once you can smell the deliciousness (sub 1 minute so don’t go anywhere) add the chicken. Continue to fry off over the high heat for 3-4 minutes or until golden. Add the spring onion to the mix then pour over your sauce.
Continue to work the stir fry for 10 minutes or so – the longer you can work it through the stickier and more caramelised the chicken will become as the sugar works its magic.
If using, add the snow peas now and serve with rice. Smashed it.
Kitchen notes...
You need thighs here rather than chicken breast as in order to establish a good caramelisation the chicken needs to be on the heat for a little while and this would dry out breast meat.
jess says
As usual this looks delicious and amazing. What would make a good veg alternative other than tofu? Cauliflower maybe? X
The Wandering Matilda says
Hey Jess!
Thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
Tempeh would work as it would take on the stickiness really well otherwise, yep you could just do a mixture of veg – cauliflower, capsicum, broccoli, baby corn, snow peas etc and work it like a stir fry. In this instance though you’ll only need to use half of the liquids as you won’t need to work it down as much (but make it all up and keen the rest in the fridge for next time). The flavour won’t be as developed or caramelised but it’ll still be a Japanese burst of deliciousness. Let me know how you go! Xxx Holly