Having friends round for a party means lots of buffet food and I’m always looking out for ideas for something different or new.  I noticed in the shops lots of places doing yakitori chicken skewers, sounded interesting but I wasn’t impressed by what you got for the price, so I made my own and very nice they were too.

However I took the sauce and turned it into a very nice supper.

Yakitori Chicken with Coriander Rice

For the sauce

• 1/2 sup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/4 cup sake
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Fresh ginger, chopped (about 1 inch worth)
• 1 tbsp cornflour (plus a little water)

For the rest

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2-3/person)
• 50-60g rice/person
• handful of chopped coriander
• 1 tsp tumeric

Directions(for the sauce)

1. In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sake (I didn’t have any so I used 50/50 sherry/white wine), garlic and ginger.
2. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and then cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
3. Mix the cornflour with a little water.
4. Stir the cornflour mixture into the soy sauce mix and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
5. Strain the sauce and refrigerate until required.

I used the sauce for buffet food initially, adding some of it to diced chicken thigh in a seal-able bag and leaving this in the fridge to marinate overnight.  I then threaded onto mini-skewers and baked for about 18 minutes and served as part of the buffet.

For supper I took the whole chicken thigh and covered in a couple of tablespoons of the sauce and left for about 20 minutes (you could leave overnight).

I then griddled the chicken until cooked, brushing a little more sauce on towards the end.

For the rice I just cooked as per the packet, but added the tumeric to the water.  This gives the rice a lovely golden colour, and once drained forked through a bit of chopped coriander leaf.

I served the chicken up on a bed of the rice and drizzled a bit more of the sauce around the plate.  It was really delicious.  The sauce has a sweet, yet savoury tang to it that is really nice.  It would make a fabulous stir-fry sauce (I added a few teaspoons to fresh noodles as a side dish and was lovely too).

It would make a great sauce for barbecues as well.  I can see me making this a lot.

Note:  I know it’s sad I looked this up, but yakitori describes the method of cooking chicken on a skewer, and not the sauce itself (its really a tare sauce) but it will always be yakitori sauce to me 🙂