The most difficult part of making negima, the popular Japanese appetizer in which meat is wrapped around scallions or chives, is slicing the meat thin enough. You can ask your butcher for ultra-thin-cut sirloin, and you might get it, but it’s probably easier to use pork, chicken, or veal, all of which are regularly sold as thin cutlets. With a little gentle pounding, they’re thin enough, and the process becomes easy.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 to 8 servings

　　1/4 cup soy sauce, plus more for brushing the meat

　　1 tablespoon rice vinegar or white wine vinegar

　　1 tablespoon mirin or 2 teaspoons honey mixed with 2 teaspoons water

　　Green parts from about 2 dozen scallions or a big fistful of chives

　　8 thin slices of beef, chicken, veal, or pork, each about 3 inches wide and 5 to 6 inches long, about 1 1/4 pounds

　　

Step 1

Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill or broiler; the fire should be quite hot. Mix together the first 3 ingredients, then soak the scallions or chives in this mixture while you prepare the meat.

　　

Step 2

Place the meat between 2 layers of wax paper or plastic wrap and pound it gently with a mallet, the bottom of a cast-iron pan, or a rolling pin until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Brush one side of each piece of meat with a little soy sauce.

　　

Step 3

Remove the scallions or chives from their soaking liquid and cut them into lengths about the same width as the meat. Place a small bundle of them at one of the narrow ends of each slice, on the soy brushed side. Roll the long way, securing the roll with a toothpick or two. (You can prepare the rolls in advance up to this point; cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours before proceeding.) Brush the exterior of the roll with a little of the soaking liquid.

　　

Step 4

Grill or broil until brown on all sides, a total of about 6 minutes for chicken, 4 to 5 minutes for pork or veal, 4 minutes or less for beef.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.