Charcoal Series: Grilled Unagi

I recently bought a grill mesh, and grilling unagi directly over the chimney starter had quickly became my favourite way to cook unagi. By keeping the hot charcoal in the chimney starter, the heat of the burning charcoal is concentrated in a smaller radius, making it terrific for fast grilling.

My initial feeble attempts trying to cook unagi on a grill. The charcoal's too spread out for fast grilling. Don't bother doing it this way.

Adding under the plus column of grilling food directly over the chimney starter: it's also one less thing to clean-up. And by the time you're done with your meal and ready for desserts, the heat's still enough for a few rounds of marshmallow. 

We’ve been buying frozen pre-cooked unagi and grilling them to make unadon with sushi rice. On the days when I'm free run to the stores, I come back with a small variety of sashimi, but even without other accompaniments, unagi and rice makes for an excellent meal.

Like this, but with precooked unagi. The heat is too intense and the radius too narrow for raw eggplants, which are actually better cooked over a regular grill.

Charcoal Series - Grilled Unagi

INGREDIENTS
Unagi (commonly bought pre-cooked and frozen), thawed 

STEPS
1. Thaw the frozen pre-cooked unagi a few hours before you start. 

2. When ready to begin, fill the chimney starter with about half a chimney worth of charcoal. (You don't need a full chimney of charcoal for this. It's a pretty quick cook.) 

3. While the charcoal is starting to burn and ash over, prep the grill net. Oil the inside of the grill net with a neutral-tasting oil, and place the unagi inside. Lock the grill net together. For grill nets with loose catches, you may find it useful to further secure the net by wrapping a small piece of aluminium foil to prevent it from popping open during the cook.

3. Grill the unagi over the charcoals until the surface is lightly blistered and the sauce bubbles vigorously, about 2-4 minutes on one side. Flip the net over and warm the other surface, for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve immediately. If you’re serving the unagi over rice, you may want to brush a layer of homemade unagi sauce over the rice before topping each bowl with unagi.