Celeriac Yakitori from the Konro Grill
We’re going to prepare celeriac as yakitori. And believe me, with this method, you really won’t miss the meat. The celeriac is briefly blanched, threaded onto skewers and grilled over binchotan charcoal. This gives it a lovely, subtle smoky flavour. We then brush it with Japanese tare and let it caramelise. We’re cooking this delicious take on yakitori on a Kasai konro grill – my absolute favourite!
Ingredients
Yakitori for 4 people
- 500 grams of celeriac
Tare for 1 litre
- 350 ml mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
- 80 grams of raw cane sugar
- 500 ml Japanese soya sauce
- 300 ml sake
- 8 spring onions, sliced into rings
- 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 50 grams of fresh ginger, sliced
Sauces and accompaniments
- 50 ml tare (left over)
- 10 grams of furikake
- 10 grams of sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp chopped chives
Preparation
- You can use metal skewers or bamboo skewers. Leave the bamboo skewers to soak in cold water for a few hours. That way, they’re less likely to burn.
- In the meantime, make the tare: bring all the ingredients for the tare to the boil and simmer gently until it reduces to a light syrup. Strain and leave to cool. This tare does not contain chicken, so it is vegetarian.
- Wash the celeriac and cut it into 8 x 12 cm rectangles.
- Slice it into thin slices, about 2 mm thick.
- Stack the slices on top of each other until they are about 10 cm high.
- Insert a skewer into a 4 x 4 cm square and cut the slices into 4 x 4 cm pieces.
- Place a sufficient amount of binchotan in the Kasai grill, light it with a few firelighters or kindling, and open the vents.
- Heat until it glows red. Make sure there are no more flames.
- Place the yakitori on the barbecue.
- Let them roast over the charcoal smoke and heat, turning them very frequently – really, every few minutes.
- Once they’re seared all over and about 80% cooked, dip the skewers into the tare.
- Drain them and put them back in for a short while. Repeat this once more if necessary so that they caramelise nicely.
- Serve with the sauces and accompaniments.
