Y is for Yakitori and Yuba

Let’s go Asian again for two Japanese food terms. As America falls deeper in love with ethnic cooking we find ourselves eating and cooking things we never even heard of a few years ago. While you may have encountered yakitori at your local fast food restaurant, odds are good you didn’t get yuba there!

Y is for Yakitori (yah-kee-TOE-ree)

Yaki is Japanese for “grilled”, and tori is "poultry", most often chicken, that has been marinated in teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki sauce is soy sauce, honey, and ginger. Make your own. Don’t buy the bottled stuff! (Teri means “shine” or “luster”.)

 

A yakitori dish often serves veggies or gingko nuts alongside (and maybe even chicken livers). To make your own yakitori, cut up chicken into chunks, marinate it for a few hours, then thread the meat onto skewers and grill.

I use wooden skewers that I soak overnight in water so that they don’t burn up on the grill.

Y is for Yuba (YOU-bah)

Sometimes you will find yuba called bean stick, tofu skin, tofu bamboo, or soy milk skin. To make yuba, soy milk is boiled in a shallow, wide pan. A skin forms on the surface of the boiling soy milk which is carefully removed, laid flat on a surface, and either eaten fresh or is dried.

Yuba is creamy tasting, and has a nutlike taste. Because of its high protein content, yuba often stands in for meat in vegetarian dishes.

When the yuba sheets are left to dry, they are sometimes rolled up in sticks that can be deep fried and eaten alone or in other dishes. When the yuba sheets are not rolled, they can be used to wrap other foods prior to them being steamed or even braised or deep-fried. You may have inadvertently eaten yuba in dim sum.

Last day tomorrow! Please join me for Z is for . . .