Last Saturday was my last Hollywood Bowl concert of this year. Although we only had a couple of warm evenings out of 8-9 shows we went to this year, we still had the wonderful summer at the Bowl again.
I made a few dishes to take to the concert. Kinpira Gobo is one of my favorite Japanese comfort food. I made it with the tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san". Because the burdock root and carrot were steam-fried in the donabe, the flavors were nicely sealed inside of the vegetables (very deep) and so nice. With Fukkura-san, I also made steam-fry shiitake mushrooms and corn with the dashi-soy sauce with shiso leaves. The protein was Soy-Curry Yakitori, which was requested by Jason. Yakitori makes a great picnic dish, because you can eat right out of the skewers by hand. I've been making this spicy Yakitori for quite some time and it's always a big hit...and it's very easy to make. So, here's my recipe.
Oven-broiled Soy-Curry Yakitori
Ingredients (6 yakitori skewers)
(Marinade)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon yuzu jam
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
1 pound chicken thighs (boneless, skinless), cut into bite-size pieces
Procedure
1. Whisk together the ingredients for the marinade in a medium-size bowl.
2. Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and make sure the meat is coated with the marinade well. Cover air-tight with the plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, soak the skewers in the water for at least 20 minutes.
4. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator, drain the skewers, and thread 3-4 pieces of chicken with each skewer.
5. Set the skewered chicken in a baking pan. Set the oven rack in the 2nd level from the top. Broil (525F degrees) until the surface is nicely colored and the meat is cooked through (about 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of each chicken piece).
Phoenix's show was so awesome and we danced so much to burn off the calories from all the tasty picnic food!
