Shishito Yakitori

Last weekend we stopped past a local veggie market on our way home from stocking up our sake supplies. We don’t go very often, as it is usually so busy, but they have excellent and difficult to find ingredients and I wanted to buy some new shiso micro-greens to grow on my kitchen window ledge. While walking around, Super Sake Boy let out a bit of a squeak, and I went to investigate the cause of his excitement. He had found shishito peppers. I was jumping up and down. I was so excited. My favourite yakitori ingredient, never before spotted in Australia, despite my searching efforts. We had found some.

We asked at the checkout of they always had them. Sadly, they said it was very rare. We grabbed two punnets, and started planning, mouth watering all the way home. We have some shishito seeds, found by Super Sake Boy on the internet, and will eventually grow some in our Japanese food garden. However, I did contact the grower, who I tracked down on Facebook. A lovely person from NSW who said they weren’t growing them anymore as there was little demand. I am on a mission to try to entice all my favourite Japanese restauranteurs to commit to buying shishito and will then contact Cheyne, at Bark Hut Berries. It is a mission of passion and driven completely by my tastebuds!!

If you have not eaten shishito, they are a small green pepper, that looks like a chilli. They are slightly spicy, but not overly so, and they are sweet. They are so delicious my mouth is watering now thinking about them. So, with out further ado, here is my recipe for shishito yakitori. Super simple and incredibly delicious.

Shishito Yakitori with Goats Cheese and Proscuitto

Method

• Make the sauce first. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and heat until sugar is totally dissolved.
• Take peppers and carefully slice down the centre of each one.
• With a teaspoon, carefully scoop a little goats cheese into each pepper. You don’t need a lot and should be able to push the seams of the cut back together again.
• Cut the prosciutto long ways, into three. Wrap each pepper with the prosciutto, covering the cut, and then skewer the prosciutto onto the pepper. (I used two skewers to ensure the prosciutto stayed on and to stabilise the peppers on the barbeque grill).
• Dip the skewers into the sauce. You can also baste them while they are on the bbq.
• Cook the skewers on a bbq grill or griddle or hibachi or konro (Japanese bbqs) for around 4 minutes each side, until the shishito is almost blistering. (Maybe faster on binchotan charcoal)
• Remove from the heat and serve.

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