When ground chicken isn’t available, use ground turkey thigh. Use a chubby piece of ginger if you want bigger flavor for these Japanese chicken meatballs, which are called tsukune. This recipe was slightly adapted from the original published in the Gaijin Cookbook by Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying.
1raw egg yolk (of a quality and freshness you feel comfortable eating raw), per person
Japanese Shichimi togarashi or Korean gochugaru
Instructions
For the meatballs, combine the chicken, onion, ginger, panko, starch, egg whites, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Use your hands to form the mixture into 1-ounce balls (think golf ballor torpedoes; set aside. If you want a smooth exterior, gently re-roll each one with slightly wet hands.
For the sauce, combine the soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar.
Heat a large nonstick or well seasoned skillet over medium high heat, then coat with a vegetable oil. Place the meatballs in the pan and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, turning them often (or shaking the paso they brown evenly on all sides.
When the meatballs are just about perfectly done, turn the heat up and pour the sauce mixture into the pan. Swirl and/or shake the pan to cook the meatballs in the sauce, then cook for about 3 minutes, allowing the liquid to reduce and glaze to meet. Serve hot with a sprinkling of togarashi and raw egg yolk for dipping.
Notes
Use gluten-free panko and soy sauce, if you'd like to skip the wheat.