Best Tsumire Japanese Nabe Meatballs Recipes

TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Add all the Sauce ingredients to a pot and bring it to the boil. Turn down the heat to medium or medium low and simmer for about 4-5 minutes to reduce the quantity by about a third (note 2).
• Add chicken mince, chicken fat and salt in a bowl and mix well until the chicken mince becomes sticky.
• Add the remaining ingredients, except 1 tablespoon of sake, to the bowl and mix well.
• Add the remaining sake to the bowl gradually while mixing. The mixture is quite soft but do not add all of the sake specified if the mixture is too soft to grab by hand and form a ball.
• Boil water in a pot. Coat a cutlery spoon with oil (not in ingredients).
• Grab chicken mince with the left hand (I am a right hander) and squeeze out mince through the thumb and the index finger. The mince will come out forming a round shape (note 3).
• Take the meatball with the spoon and drop it into the pot. Repeat this for the rest of the mince (see the step-by-step photo in post).
• Boil meatballs for 5-7 minutes until cooked through (note 4). Take the meatballs out and put aside. Cook them in batches so that the surface of the boiling water is filled with no more than one layer of the meatballs.
• Heat griller, griddle or BBQ (note 6). Oil the rack/grill where you place the meatballs.
• Thread 3 Tsukune onto flat skewers (note 7).
• Baste tsukune with the sauce using a brush and cook under the griller or on the griddle/BBQ for 1-2 minutes until the meatballs are slightly burnt.
• Turn over the skewers and cook further 1-2 minutes. Then baste with the sauce, cook 30 seconds on both sides.
• Serve immediately.

TSUMIRE - JAPANESE NABE MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Mix the sake and miso to dissolve the miso.
• Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and mix well. Be careful not to add too much flour/starch or the meatballs will be tough, but you'll need to add enough to keep them from falling apart in the nabe broth. You may want to cook a test meatball to check the taste/texture.
• Drop by spoonfuls into the boiling nabe broth. They won't be perfectly round because the mixture should be too soft to form them into perfect balls.

TSUKUNE MISO NABE (CHICKEN-MEATBALL HOT POT IN MISO BROTH)

Steps:

• Prepare the meatballs: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs, and knead with your hands until the mix is smooth and shiny. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to shape and cook.
• Prepare the hot pot: Place a large donabe, Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat and bring the dashi to a simmer. Add the mirin and tamari. Whisk in miso. (You can put the miso in a strainer and hold it directly in the broth as you whisk, so it dissolves smoothly.)
• With wet hands, shape the chicken mixture into tablespoon-size balls to make about 30 meatballs, then drop them into the simmering broth. Add the mushrooms and tofu. (If using very delicate tofu, wait and add it with the greens.)
• Bring the broth back up to a simmer, turn the heat down to low, and cover. Simmer gently until all the ingredients are cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Add the greens, and cover for 1 more minute, then serve with sesame and togarashi.

JIDORI TSUKUNE (JAPANESE CHICKEN MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• Bring 1 cup sake, 1 cup soy sauce, ½ cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), and ½ cup zarame sugar or demerara sugar to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced by about a quarter, 25-30 minutes. Do ahead: Tare can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
• If using 1 lb. skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, grind in a meat grinder fitted with a 7-mm die. Divide chicken into 2 equal portions and run 1 portion through grinder a second time. Combine both portions in a large bowl. (You can also ask your butcher to grind the chicken for you.)
• If using 1 lb. ground dark-meat chicken plus 2 Tbsp. chicken fat, mix together in a large bowl.
• Add ½ small onion, finely chopped, 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1¾ tsp. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), and 1½ tsp. finely grated yuzu or lemon zest to chicken meat. Using your hands, mix until thoroughly combined.
• Divide meat into ¼ cup portions. Shape into balls, then form into 3½x1" logs. Arrange tsukune on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place 1 cup glutinous sweet rice flour on a plate. Working one at a time, dredge tsukune in flour, turning to coat, and transfer as many as will snugly fit to a parchment-lined large steamer basket.
• Pour water into a large saucepan to come 1" up sides and bring to a boil. Set steamer on top and cover. Steam tsukune until just cooked through, 6-8 minutes. Repeat process with any remaining tsukune if needed.
• Prepare a grill for high heat. Place tare in a tall, narrow glass (you should be able to submerge tsukune when you dunk it in the tare). Thread each tsukune onto a skewer.
• Grill tsukune, turning and dipping in tare every 2 minutes, until richly glazed, deeply browned, and charred in spots, about 8 minutes total.
• Transfer to a platter and sprinkle shichimi togarashi over. Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

JAPANESE MEATBALLS IN SWEET SOY SAUCE (NIKU DANGO)

Steps:

• Mix together all the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Knead the mixture until the ingredients are well combined. The beaten egg should give a stickiness to the rest of the mixture, holding it together.
• Take a small amount of the mixture -slightly less than a tablespoon) in your hand and mould it into a ball. Continue until the meatball mixture is used up.
• Fill a pan about one-third full of cooking oil. Heat oil to 350ºF and deep fry the meatballs until brown, about 5 minute (Turn meatballs halfway to ensure they are browned evenly.).
• Remove meatballs to plate lined with absorbent paper, to drain off excess oil.
• Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan. Mix them together over a low heat, stirring until the sauce has thickened.
• Add the meatballs to the pan and roll them around in the pan until they are all covered with the sauce.
• Pour the meatballs with sauce onto a serving plate and serve!

OLD STYLE SUNDAY MEATBALLS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients except cheese and breadcrumbs (this is best done with clean hands!).
• Once mixed, add cheese and breadcrumbs, mix until even.
• Coat a roasting pan or high sided pan with extra virgin olive oil.
• Roll meat mixture into balls about the size of a golfball and line oiled pan with them.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done.