Vegetables play a big role in Asian grilling, too. They can be skewered and grilled like meat, or charred to concentrate flavor, then served as a side dish or puréed into sauces. Perhaps even more than the main ingredients, it’s the palette of flavors used in marinades, rubs and sauces that makes Asian grilling deliciously different. Layering marinades, bastes, glazes and sauces creates complex flavors that satisfy in small portions and balance well with vegetables and rice. Flatbreads often round out the meal. China’s scallion pancakes and India’s naan are two tasty examples, providing a plate, wrapper and starch component all in one.
Grill-hopping around Asia
We find many avenues to explore when it comes to Asian grilling—every country has its own technique and tastes, based on climate, tradition and resources. And, digging deeper, each country is home to myriad regions with unique culinary creations.
Japan. The land of the rising sun is famous for the degree of artistry and specialization it brings to everything it does, and food is no exception—restaurants focusing on one style of cooking or one type of food abound. Restaurants serving yakitori-ya, literally “grilled poultry,” turn out skewers of every conceivable part of the chicken, and even a few inconceivable ones, like cartilage. Salt is lightly sprinkled on just before grilling, and the skewers are served with soy sauce and grated daikon as condiments. As an alternative, a rich barbecue sauce called tare, made from soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and aromatics like ginger, is lightly brushed on while the chicken is cooked.
Grilled foods receive a kick from teriyaki or spicy chile sauces for dipping, or a sprinkling of shichimi togarashi, a seven-spice blend based on red chile flakes (togarashi) that often includes Sichuan pepper (sansho), white sesame seeds, seaweed flakes (nori), dried pieces of mandarin orange peel, black hemp seeds and white poppy seeds. In yakiniku restaurants, bite-sized morsels of meat and vegetables are cooked over charcoal, gas or electric grills and served with a mixture of soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, garlic and sesame.
In addition to restaurants specializing in grilled chicken or meat, Japanese brewpubs known as izakaya offer all kinds of grilled small plates that go well with beer, sake or shochu. From whole squid and fish to mountain yams and rice cakes, izakaya offer unique bar fare. Since grilling mostly takes place indoors, at home or in restaurants, a special type of charcoal called bincho, which burns hot and smokeless, is preferred.