Japanese Yakitori Skewers with Tare Glaze and Charred Scallion

Make the tare: simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, ginger and garlic in a small saucepan until reduced by a third and lightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. Strain and reserve, keeping half in a separate bowl for basting.

Serves 4 as an appetizer

Ingredients

• 600g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
• 8 scallions, white and light-green parts cut into 3cm batons
• 120ml soy sauce
• 120ml mirin
• 60ml sake
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 thumb ginger, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• Shichimi togarashi, to serve
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 12 bamboo skewers, soaked 30 minutes

Instructions

1. Make the tare: simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, ginger and garlic in a small saucepan until reduced by a third and lightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. Strain and reserve, keeping half in a separate bowl for basting.
2. Thread the chicken and scallion batons alternately onto the soaked skewers, packing them snugly.
3. Heat a grill to medium-high and oil the grates well.
4. Grill the skewers 3 minutes per side over direct heat until the chicken is golden and the scallion softens and chars at the tips.
5. Begin brushing generously with the basting tare, turning and glazing every minute for 3-4 minutes, until the skewers are deeply lacquered and sticky.
6. Move to a cooler part of the grill if the glaze threatens to burn — you want caramelized, not scorched.
7. Pile onto a plate, dust with shichimi togarashi, and serve with lemon wedges and the reserved clean tare for dipping.
8. Yakitori — literally 'grilled bird' — is the soul of the Japanese izakaya, where skewers cook over intensely hot binchotan charcoal and a single pot of tare is topped up for years, growing richer with every dip. The technique is restraint itself: small pieces, fierce heat, and a sweet-savory glaze built only at the end so the sugars caramelize rather than burn. It is grilling distilled to its most precise and convivial form.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 290 kcal
• Protein: 28g
• Fat: 14g
• Carbohydrates: 12g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 9g
• Sodium: 880mg