Tsumire Japanese Nabe Meatballs Food

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.

JAPANESE MEATBALLS IN SWEET SOY SAUCE (NIKU DANGO)

Steps:

• Mix together all the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Knead the mixture until the ingredients are well combined. The beaten egg should give a stickiness to the rest of the mixture, holding it together.
• Take a small amount of the mixture -slightly less than a tablespoon) in your hand and mould it into a ball. Continue until the meatball mixture is used up.
• Fill a pan about one-third full of cooking oil. Heat oil to 350ºF and deep fry the meatballs until brown, about 5 minute (Turn meatballs halfway to ensure they are browned evenly.).
• Remove meatballs to plate lined with absorbent paper, to drain off excess oil.
• Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan. Mix them together over a low heat, stirring until the sauce has thickened.
• Add the meatballs to the pan and roll them around in the pan until they are all covered with the sauce.
• Pour the meatballs with sauce onto a serving plate and serve!

TSUMIRE - JAPANESE NABE MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Mix the sake and miso to dissolve the miso.
• Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and mix well. Be careful not to add too much flour/starch or the meatballs will be tough, but you'll need to add enough to keep them from falling apart in the nabe broth. You may want to cook a test meatball to check the taste/texture.
• Drop by spoonfuls into the boiling nabe broth. They won't be perfectly round because the mixture should be too soft to form them into perfect balls.