Cooking Japanese in Jamaica

It's been exactly one and a half years since Miyagi Prefecture and the surrounding area was hit by a nine-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. It was one of the most painful sights to watch - so many hard-working Japanese lost their loved ones and everything they had.

Within a month of the disaster, we launched a charity organisation, Recovery Japan, to raise much-needed cash for the victims.

While Miyagi Prefecture is famous for its agricultural and fishing industry, as well as manufacturing industry, it has also contributed greatly to Japanese cooking.

Miyagi Prefecture is the very first place where robatayaki-style restaurants were opened. Today, there are approximately 10,000 such restaurants in Japan, and recently, this type of restaurant has been gaining popularity in East Village, New York.

Fireside cooking

The word robatayaki is literally translated as 'fireside cooking'. Setting varies, but the standard arrangement of traditional robatayaki-style restaurant uses a large wooden counter as the centre point. Clients sit around the counter and select fresh ingredients from the display. The chef will then cook them on an open charcoal grill made on a hearth of sand pit. When ready, the dishes are passed to patrons on a large wooden paddle over the counter. It's the freshness of each ingredient, the excitement of the process, and conversation with the chef that keep bringing people back to Robatayaki-style restaurants.

Today's recipe is similar to Teriyaki chicken. But it's Yakitori. Yakitori is one of the most popular robatayaki-style menu, which goes well with white wine or sparkling wine.

Ai Irisawa-Coney managed a Japanese restaurant in Soho, London. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions and ACI Consultancy www.aci-consultacny.com in Kingston.

Yakitori Chicken

Cooking time 45 minutes

Serves four persons.

Ingredients

1lb boneless chicken thigh

Stems of a dozen spring onions

¹/⁴ cup of Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman brand, preferably)

¹/⁴ cup of Mirin (if you can't get hold of Mirin, you can skip it)

¹/⁴ cup of sake or white wine

¹/⁴ cup of brown sugar

You also need about 12 bamboo skewers

METHOD

Soak skewers in water for 15 minutes and drain.

Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, Mirin, sake and sugar in a small pan. Bring to a boil, and simmer on medium heat for a few minutes. Allow to cool.

Cut chicken into ¹/³ inch. Cut spring onion into one inch. Thread chicken and onion alternately on a skewer.

Preheat BBQ grill on medium high. Dip the skewers of chicken and spring onions into the sauce and place them onto the grill. Cook both sides for 3-5 minutes each, until thoroughly cooked. Take them off the grill and dip them in sauce every few minutes while being cooked.

If you do not have a BBQ grill, use a non-stick frying pan. Cook four skewers of chicken and spring onion for 2-3 minutes each side until golden. Add two tablespoon of the sauce and cook for another two minutes until the sauce is thick.

Itadakimasu!