Cooking with Friends: Guy Fieri's Yakitori Chicken

Last Saturday, I hosted eight friends for dinner and served an Asian-inspired meal.  Two of the dishes were straight out of Guy Fieri Food, one of my favorite cookbooks.  The main dish, Chicken Yakitori, was another labor of love as it took my friend Justin and I over two hours to prepare, cook, and garnish.    The second, a Thai salad, was much more straight forward but flavorful in its own right.  I'll share the recipe soon.

Back to the Chicken Yakitori:  one thing I've learned about Guy Fieri since owning his cookbook is that he loves to pack a punch, and, as a result, his recipes include many ingredients to bring the flavor he's known for.  The Chicken Yakitori is no exception:  without having Justin as my right hand man, this recipe could have easily taken the better part of the afternoon to prepare, but with a second set of hands and his expertise, we were able to complete the dish in just over two hours.  The result?  Absolutely delicious - we both agree that this is the best chicken dish either of us have ever made.

Justin and I celebrating a meal done right.

Guy Fieri's Chicken Yakitori

Note:  Guy's recipe makes 20 skewers but they seem to be much smaller than how Justin and I prepared them.  We doubled the recipe to ensure eight people were able to eat with food to spare.  We had a few skewers left over - but only enough for one additional meal.  So, take that as a gauge for the amount of food you should prepare...

For the chicken:
3.5 lbs of boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
6 large eggs
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped (plus another 2 tablespoons to flavor boiling water)
4 green onions, roughly chopped
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (plus a bit more for kicks)
Large pot filled with boiling water
3 peppers of any color, cut into 2 inch pieces (tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne)
Skewers soaked in water
2 handfuls of sesame seeds (for garnish)
Chopped green onion (for garnish)

For the Yakitori sauce:
1 cup sake
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
4 tbsp honey
2 tsp cornstarch

For the Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce:
1 cup sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp cilantro
2 tbsp minced green onion
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Dash of cayenne pepper

In a large bowl, mix together chicken, eggs, garlic, ginger, green onions, salt, flour, cornstarch and breadcrumbs.  Once mixed, place in food processor and pulse until combined.  If your food processor isn't large enough to handle the entire amount in one round, be cognizant that you're pulsing the same consistency of mixture during each round.

Three steps in the process.

Once all of the chicken is fully mixed, form small balls with the mixture.  You may want to keep a small bowl of water nearby to rinse your hands in between each ball creation.  Place the balls on a non-stick surface, such as a plastic cutting board, for safe keeping.

The balls can vary in size.

Next, bring the pot of water and remaining ginger to a boil.  Adjust the heat so it remains at a simmer.  Working in batches, add a few balls to the water and cook them through.  Once the balls are cooked, place on paper towels and allow to cool for a few minutes, or until you can comfortably handle them.

Meanwhile, bring the oven to a broil (or, alternatively, you can use the grill).  As the oven heats, place the balls on the skewers and alternate with pepper slices.  Once complete, place the filled skewers on a cooking sheet and broil until browned on the outside.

As the chicken balls are broiling, bring all of the ingredients of the Yakitori sauce to a boil.  Once boiling, bring to a simmer and continue to keep at a low temperature until the mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.

Mix together all of the ingredients of the sweet chili dipping sauce.

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce - the more cilantro, the better!

Once the chicken balls are browned, remove from the broiler.  Using a brush, spread the Yakitori sauce over the chicken.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion and serve.  ENJOY!