Japanese Negima Yakitori with Grilled Chicken and Scallion Skewers

Make the tare: combine the soy, mirin, sake, sugar, garlic and ginger in a small pan. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until reduced by about a third and lightly syrupy. Strain and set aside.

Ingredients

• Makes about 10 skewers:
• 600g boneless chicken thigh, cut into 2-3cm pieces
• 3 fat leeks or large scallions, cut into 3cm lengths
• For the tare glaze:
• 120ml soy sauce
• 120ml mirin
• 3 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 clove garlic and a small piece ginger, smashed
• To finish: shichimi togarashi and toasted sesame seeds
• Bamboo skewers, soaked 30 minutes

Instructions

1. Make the tare: combine the soy, mirin, sake, sugar, garlic and ginger in a small pan. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until reduced by about a third and lightly syrupy. Strain and set aside.
2. Thread the chicken and leek alternately onto the soaked skewers — a piece of chicken, a chunk of leek, repeating, with 4-5 pieces of chicken per skewer.
3. Heat a charcoal grill or a ridged griddle pan to medium-high. Lightly oil the grate.
4. Grill the skewers, turning every couple of minutes, for about 6 minutes until the chicken is nearly cooked and the leek is charred and softened.
5. Now start glazing: brush the skewers generously with tare, let it caramelise for 30 seconds, turn and brush again, repeating 3-4 times to build a glossy lacquered coating.
6. Cook until the chicken is fully cooked through and deeply glazed, with sticky charred edges.
7. Pile onto a plate, brush with a final coat of tare, and dust with shichimi togarashi and sesame seeds.
8. Serve hot, ideally with a cold beer, and eat straight off the skewer.
9. Negima is the most classic of all yakitori — the grilled-chicken skewers that are the backbone of Japan's izakaya and street-stall culture. The name combines 'negi' (leek or scallion) and the alternating pieces of meat, and the genius is in the pairing: rich, juicy thigh meat against sweet, smoky charred leek, all lacquered in tare, the sweet-savoury glaze that grill cooks build up and reuse for years. Cooked over binchotan charcoal and eaten with friends over drinks, yakitori is communal, smoky and endlessly moreish — Japan's answer to the grilled skewer.