Noshidori is a Japanese version of chicken meatloaf decorated with colourful toppings. The meatloaf is flavoured with miso, soy sauce and sugar so it is quite different from the Western style meatloaf. It looks fiddly but actually, It looks fiddly but actually, it is quite simple to make. Great as finger food or an accompanying side dish for a Japanese meal.
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Pre-heat oven to 230C (445F). If you have a 18cm x 12cm (7" x 4¾") baking dish, line the dish with a baking paper. Otherwise, using two layers of aluminium sheets, make a 5cm (2") deep box of 18cm x 12cm (7" x 4¾") and place it in a small baking tray (note 5).
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Add ⅓ of chicken, sake, mirin and soy sauce in a fry pan or a saucepan and cook over medium high heat, breaking mince apart. Cook until all the sauce evaporates, then cool it down.
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Add the cooked mince, uncooked mince and all the remaining ingredients except toppings in a food processor.
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Blend the mince mixture until all ingredients are mixed well and the mixture becomes sticky but mince grains are partially left (see the photo in the post).
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Transfer the mince mixture into the baking dish/aluminium box in a tray. Lift the baking dish/tray a bit and drop it onto the kitchen bench a couple of times to remove air pockets inside the mince mixture.
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Flatten the surface using a spatula (note 6), then cook in the oven for 10 minutes.
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Turn the heat down to 170C (335F) and cook further 8-10 minutes or until the centre of the meatloaf is cooked (note 7).
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Remove from the oven and cool it down. Then use a spatula and place the meatloaf on a cutting board.
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Trim the four sides if not straight and tidy. Cut the meatloaf lengthwise into 4 equal strips, then into 6 crosswise, making 24 square pieces (note 8).
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Place baking paper or a large cutting knife in the centre slit of the meatloaf to make a wall dividing two equal portions of the meatloaf.
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Brush mirin over the surface so that toppings stick better.
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Sprinkle granular egg yolk over one half portion of the meatloaf and aonori over the other half. Remove the separation wall gently.
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Place meatloaf pieces with two different toppings alternately to decorate the plate (if you wish).
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Serve at room temperature or cold.
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Put the egg yolk through a sieve with slightly larger holes than the one used to sift flour, and make granular egg yolk.
1. Either chicken breast or thigh is fine. You can mix them, too. I used 300g (0.7lb) breast mince and 200g (0.4lb) thigh mince to give a bit of richness and texture.
2. Depending on the colour of the miso, the final colour of the meatloaf varies.
3. Toppings can be omitted but I think it looks prettier with colourful toppings. I used yellow and green just because they are the Aussie colours.
But in Japan, the most common topping combination is aonori and either white poppy seeds or white sesame. You could also use egg white and egg yolk so that you can make use of the whole boiled egg.
4. Aonori is also called ‘aosako’. You can buy aonori at Japanese grocery stores and Amazon.
5. To make a box using 2 layers of aluminium foil: Fold 4 sides to make 18cm x 12cm bottom. Open the folded sides 90 degrees to make walls on four sides, pinching the corners and folding it to one side. Please see the step by step photos in blog.
6. When I want to make the surface of the mince mixture perfectly flat, I place a sheet of cling wrap over mince, lightly press and use a small empty box/container with flat bottom to make the surface even.
7. Stick a thin bamboo skewer into the middle of the meatloaf and remove it. If the skewer is clean and not sticky, the meatloaf is cooked through.
8. This will make about 3cm (1 3/16") cubes. It is up to you how large/small you would like to cut into.
9. Noshidori keeps about 4 days in the fridge. This is one of the reasons why it appears in the New Year's celebration feast as the same foods are served for a couple of days.