Kushiyaki Beef Skewers with Tare Sauce

Delicious beef skewers, Japanese style!

If you're familiar with 'Yakitori Chicken', and you're a fan of steak then you're bound to like this!

Yakitori are traditional Japanese street food of chicken ‘kebabs’ often cooked on grills over hot coals to give them a delicious smokey flavour - so perfect for barbecues, or you can also grill or griddle them. When they're made with beef, they're known as Kushiyaki.

Serves 4 at 294 calories per serving. Quantities easily doubled (or halved - or you could freeze some after marinating, ready to go). Or halve the quantities, use small skewers and serve as a starter to a Japanese meal, or as appetisers.

You can be as creative as you like with yakitori, whether you use chicken, vegetables or beef as suggested here, or try it with thinly sliced pork, chunks of monkfish, raw tiger prawns, or whatever else takes your fancy. It’s at its best when cooked over a smoky barbeque, but delicious grilled too. You could cook it on a griddle as well, but beware the sugars in the marinade leaving a sticky black mess! [Calories in square brackets]
Ingredients


500g beef steak (fillet/rump/sirloin/rib-eye, whatever you can get your hands on - calories for fillet), trimmed of all visible fat [698]
Bunch spring onions (around 8, or use baby leeks) [24]
Schichimi Togarashi (Japanese 7-spice seasoning), to serve (optional)

For the marinade/sauce
75ml soy sauce (use tamari for gluten free) [56]
75ml sake (check ingredients for gluten free, unlikely, but varies) [105]
75ml mirin (check ingredients for gluten free, unlikely, but varies) [171]
2 ½ tbsp caster sugar [120]

Method
Mix the marinade ingredients together in a large dish, big enough to hold the beef. Soak your skewers in water, if you’re using wooden/bamboo skewers (to avoid them burning).

In a sense, how you cut up your beef to marinate and put on the skewers (after you’ve marinated it) is somewhat up to you and your personal preferences, as they are served many different ways in Japan. More surface area (i.e. thinner slices) will give you more marinade flavour and quicker cooking time. Bigger chunks will caramelize more, due to having a longer cooking time, and give the option to cook your beef medium-rare, or however you like it. You can either put the beef into the freezer to firm up, and cut into long thin slices, across the grain if possible for extra tender meat, or cut into even sized cubes, according to your preference.

When you have cut your meat up, place in the marinade, preferably for at least 2 hours if you can.

Cut the spring onions into 3cm lengths and remove the beef from the marinade, reserving the marinade, and thread onto the skewers in a weaving motion (if you're using long slices), putting 2 or three pieces of spring onion onto each skewer in between the meat/vegetables.

Preheat your barbeque, grill or griddle to a high heat, strain the reserved marinade into a pan, and reduce until slightly thickened.

If you’re cooking under a grill, you might find it easiest to line the tray underneath with foil, to avoid having to wash off burnt sugary drippings!

Grill, griddle or barbeque for a couple of minutes or so on each side (depending on the heat of the BBQ and the size of your beef cubes), or until the beef is cooked to your liking, basting with a small amount the reduced marinade once or twice during cooking (from a separate dish, reserving the rest to serve).

Serve hot, or at room temperature, with schichimi togarashi to the side, and serve the reserved, reduced marinade as a sauce or glaze. Enjoy! Have a look at the other recipes from Japan, if you want inspiration for side dishes to serve with it.