Today we’re off to Japan—a country where cooking is elevated to an art form. We’re making two iconic dishes: fragrant yakitori skewers and hearty Japanese savory pancakes, okonomiyaki.
🍢 Yakitori (焼き鳥)
Japanese chicken skewers on bamboo sticks with a glossy teriyaki glaze. Juicy meat with a caramelized sweet-salty crust and a hint of smoke.
Ingredients:
• Boneless chicken thighs (skin on) — 600 g
• Green onions (white and light-green parts) — 1 bunch
• Soy sauce — 100 ml
• Mirin (sweet rice wine) — 60 ml
• Sake (or dry white wine) — 60 ml
• Sugar — 2 tbsp
• Fresh ginger — 15 g
• Garlic — 2 cloves
• White sesame seeds (for serving) — 1 tbsp
• Vegetable oil — for greasing the grill
• Bamboo skewers — 12 pcs
Instructions:
Soak the bamboo skewers in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking—this prevents them from charring on the grill. Rinse the chicken thighs, pat dry with paper towels, and cut into 3×3 cm cubes. Try to leave a strip of skin on each piece—it’ll give a crispy texture and extra flavor.
Slice the green onions into 3–4 cm cylinders, using only the white and light-green parts. Set aside the dark-green tops for garnish. Thread onto skewers alternately: chicken, onion, chicken—3–4 pieces of meat per skewer. Pack the pieces snugly but not too tight to ensure even cooking.
Make the teriyaki sauce: In a small saucepan, combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. Grate the ginger finely, press the garlic, and add both to the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until the sauce reduces by a third and starts to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve, discarding the ginger and garlic—the sauce should be perfectly smooth.
Heat a grill or grill pan over high heat. Brush the grates or pan surface lightly with vegetable oil using a brush or paper towel. Arrange the skewers and cook for 3–4 minutes per side, undisturbed, until the chicken develops golden grill marks and the skin begins to crisp.
Flip the skewers and generously brush the cooked side with teriyaki sauce using a pastry brush. Cook for another 3–4 minutes. Flip again, brush the second side with sauce, and cook for the final 2–3 minutes. Repeat the glazing one more time—each layer should caramelize, creating a glossy crust. Doneness is confirmed by clear juices when piercing the thickest piece and an internal temperature of 75°C.
Transfer the finished yakitori to a serving platter, brush with a final layer of sauce, and sprinkle with toasted white sesame seeds. Thinly slice the dark-green onion tops into rings and scatter over the skewers for color contrast and freshness. Serve immediately while hot and the glaze is still sticky.
Accompany with a small bowl of leftover teriyaki sauce for dipping, lemon wedges, and pickled ginger (gari). Yakitori is traditionally eaten straight off the skewers, washed down with cold Japanese beer or warm sake. The meat should slide off easily, leaving a sweet-salty aftertaste and a whisper of smokiness on the tongue.
💡 Fact: Yakitori emerged in Japan after World War II, when chicken became more affordable. Traditionally, they’re grilled over hibachi—narrow charcoal grills—using binchō-tan charcoal, which burns at up to 1000°C with almost no smoke, giving the meat a clean, bitter-free aroma.
🥞 Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)
A hearty Japanese savory pancake with cabbage, meat, and seafood, drizzled with thick sweet sauce and mayo. Crispy outside, tender and juicy inside—Japan’s answer to pizza, cooked right at the table on a built-in griddle.
Ingredients:
For the batter:
• All-purpose flour — 150 g
• Water or dashi (broth) — 200 ml
• Eggs — 3
• Baking powder — 1 tsp
• Salt — a pinch
For the filling:
• Green cabbage — 400 g
• Bacon or thinly sliced pork belly — 150 g
• Peeled shrimp — 100 g
• Green onions — 3 stalks
• Pickled red ginger (beni-shōga) — 2 tbsp
For serving:
• Okonomiyaki sauce (or a 2:1 mix of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce) — 4 tbsp
• Japanese mayo (Kewpie) — 3 tbsp
• Bonito flakes (katsuobushi) — 1 handful
• Crushed nori seaweed (aonori) — 1 tsp
• Vegetable oil — for frying
Instructions:
Make the batter: In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with water or cold dashi until smooth. Pour the liquid into the flour and mix with a whisk in circular motions from the center outward until no lumps remain. The batter should be thin, like pancake batter but slightly thicker—about the consistency of liquid sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15–20 minutes at room temperature. This relaxes the gluten, making the pancakes more tender.
Prep the filling: Shred the cabbage as thinly as possible—strips 2–3 mm thick and 4–5 cm long. Avoid the thick ribs and core. Slice the green onions into thin rings, including the tender green parts. Cut the shrimp into 2–3 pieces each. Slice the bacon into 1 cm-wide strips. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, green onions, shrimp, and pickled ginger—this is the filling base.
Just before cooking, combine the batter and filling: Take a portion of the cabbage mix (about 2 cups per pancake) and stir in 4–5 tablespoons of batter. Don’t dump all the filling into the batter at once—okonomiyaki is made in batches. The mixture should look like cabbage lightly bound with batter, not batter with cabbage. Keep the ratio right: more filling than batter.
Heat a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and spread it evenly across the surface. Spoon the prepared mixture into the center of the skillet and gently flatten with a spatula into a 18–20 cm circle, about 2 cm thick. Don’t press too hard—the pancake should stay airy. Arrange 3–4 bacon strips on top, pressing them lightly into the surface.
Cook for 5–6 minutes over medium heat, uncovered. The first side is done when the bottom is golden-brown and the edges hold their shape, pulling away from the skillet. Carefully flip the okonomiyaki with a wide spatula (or two spatulas)—the bacon is now on the bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for another 5–6 minutes. The pancake is ready when it springs back when pressed and no liquid batter oozes out.
Transfer the finished pancake to a plate, bacon-side up. Immediately drizzle with okonomiyaki sauce in generous zigzags—hold the bottle high to create bold lines. Pipe thin stripes of Japanese mayo in a crosshatch pattern over the sauce. For a classic marbled effect, drag a toothpick through the mayo lines.
Finish the dish: Generously sprinkle with bonito flakes—the heat from the pancake will make them "dance," curling and shimmering. Add a pinch of crushed aonori for a bright green contrast and a briny sea aroma. Serve immediately, cutting into wedges with a special metal spatula (or a regular knife). Traditionally, okonomiyaki is eaten straight off the hot griddle with small spatulas or chopsticks, paired with cold beer.
💡 Fact: The name okonomiyaki literally translates to "grill what you like" (o-konomi—"what you prefer," yaki—"grilled"). The dish hails from Osaka and Hiroshima, where two distinct styles exist: in Osaka, everything is mixed together, while in Hiroshima, ingredients are layered with noodles. In Japan, some restaurants have built-in teppan griddles at every table, letting guests cook their own okonomiyaki.