Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs) with rice
Izakaya-style chicken meatballs glazed in a shiny sweet soy tare, served over sticky rice with green onions.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.08 a serving
- 540 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups sushi rice
- 3 tbsp mirin
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 3 stalks green onions, finely chopped, divided
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 cups water, divided
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 540 calories, 28 g protein, 73 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $2.08 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No ground chicken? Ground turkey works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs almost clear, then bring it in a with 1¾ cups of the water.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and remaining ¼ cup water in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. This is the tare.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Put the chicken, two-thirds of the green onions, the ginger, panko, egg and salt in a bowl and hard with a fork for 1 minute, until sticky and pasty.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Dolly’s tip: Stirring hard is what makes tsukune bouncy and holds them together.Shape it into 12 small ovals with wet hands and wash your hands.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium. Cook the patties 4 minutes per side, until and 165°F in the middle.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Food safety: Ground turkey and ground chicken are done at 165°F, with no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Pour in the tare and 1 to 2 minutes, turning the patties, until the sauce into a shiny .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Glaze. A glaze is a thin, glossy coating, often sweet, brushed or spooned over food near the end. It adds shine and flavor, and because it has sugar, it can burn quickly.
How you’ll know: The food looks shiny and evenly coated, sticky at the edges but not blackened.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: It thickens fast at the end. Pull it off the heat once it coats the patties like syrup.Spoon the rice into bowls, top with the tsukune and any left in the pan, and scatter the remaining green onions and sesame seeds over the top.
Glaze. A glaze is a thin, glossy coating, often sweet, brushed or spooned over food near the end. It adds shine and flavor, and because it has sugar, it can burn quickly.
How you’ll know: The food looks shiny and evenly coated, sticky at the edges but not blackened.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
