It feels like every country has their own version of meatballs. In Japan, it’s tsukune. I remember the first time I had it. I was in middle school and we went to a small Japanese restaurant called Kuni’s in an artsie area of Buffalo, NY. It was amazing! There were three meatballs per skewer, each having a soft texture with sweet soy sauce glaze. I ended up eating the entire plate by myself instead of sharing it with my family. Oops! I haven’t been to the restaurant since I graduated from high school many moons ago, but I hear it’s still open and very successful. One day I’ll make it back there and hopefully it will still be on their menu.
So what’s tsukune? It’s a Japanese chicken meatball. The main ingredient is ground chicken, which gives it the softer texture over ground beef or pork. It’s generally cooked yakitori style, but it can be pan fried, which is what I do or it can be baked. In most restaurants its skewered, but when I make it home I just plate it. Tsukune can be served as an appetizer or a main dish.
As always, the first few attempts of making tsukune have been disastrous. I take zero accountability and blame my mother for those disastrous attempts. Like my mother, I didn’t follow the directions. When the directions say, finely chop the onion, you need to follow it. Big chunks of onion in tsukune don’t go well together. The meatball should have a nice soft texture and the onions, if not finely chopped takes that texture away. Take the time and finely chop up the onion.
The sweet soy sauce glaze is what makes tsukune super tasty. However, the sauce is another area where I have made mistakes. There have a been a few times where I had the heat on too high and the sauce thickened up way to quickly. That resulted in a slightly burnt sauce that became way too thick and stringy/stretchy. It tasted okay, but it was definitely not the best. Make sure the heat is at the right temperature before pouring on the sauce.
Other than those pretty minor mistakes, it’s a super easy, tasty, kid friendly dish. Try it out sometime! If you have kids, they will enjoy it for sure. My 4 year downs about 6 -7 per meal!
Recipe:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 an onion
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 – 1 1/2 tsp of grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 4 tbsp of potato starch (for the meatball)
- Enough oil for the pan and rub on your hands
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 2 tbsp of mirin
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 3 tbsp of water
- 1/2 tsp of potato starch (for the sauce)
Mix together the sugar, mirin, soy sauce, water, and the potato starch for the sauce. Make sure the sugar and potato starch dissolve. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine ground chicken, onion, egg yolk, salt, and potato starch. Thorough mix until it gets sticky. Rub oil on the palm of your hands. Form small/medium size balls and flatten them out.
Heat a sauce pan and oil at medium heat then add the chicken meatballs to the pan. Cook on eat side for a few minutes – until it slightly brown. Add the sauce, lower the heat if necessary. Make sure to turn the tsukune over so both sides are coated with the sauce. Then it’s time to eat!
