Chicken Yakitori

• 0.25 cup soy sauce
• 0.25 cup mirin
• 2 Tbsp. sake (sherry or dry white wine)
• 2.5 Tbsp. light brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp. gochujang or sambal oelek
• 3 scallions, 1 snapped in half and the other 2 cut into 1" pieces
• 12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 4 wooden skewers

Soak the skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.

To make the tare, in a small saucepan, whisk together the soy sauce, mirin, sake (or sherry or white wine), brown sugar, garlic, gochujang and the halved scallion. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, so the liquid is at a very gentle simmer. Cook, stirring a couple of times, until a slightly thickened, glossy sauce forms, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Transfer half the tare to a large bowl and let it cool. Place the chicken in the bowl and gently pierce some of the pieces with a fork. Stir to coat the chicken pieces in the marinade and let sit for least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour in the refrigerator, tossing or stirring at the halfway mark.

When you're ready to cook the chicken, line a small baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top and pre-heat the broiler on high.

Fold a chicken piece in half, pierce through both sides with a skewer and slide the piece down; follow closely with a 1" piece of scallion. Repeat until each skewer has 4 pieces of chicken and 3 or 4 scallion pieces snugly packed on it. Drizzle a bit more marinade over each skewer, then discard the rest of the marinade.

Arrange the skewers on the wire rack and place under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Using tongs, turn over the skewers and broil for 5 minutes more, until the chicken has a nice char.

Brush both sides of each skewer with some of the reserved tare. Plate them with a small bowl of the remaining tare and serve.