← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 450 g yellowtail (buri) or kingfish, fillet or bony collar pieces
• ½ tsp Salt
• 500 g Daikon radish, peeled, cut into 2.5 cm rounds
• 5 cm piece Ginger, half thinly sliced, half cut into fine needles to serve
• 300 ml Water
• 100 ml Sake
• 3 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 4 tbsp Soy sauce

Method

1. Cut the daikon rounds into halves and shave the sharp edges so they do not break up. Cover with cold water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 min, until a skewer goes in with little resistance. Drain.
2. Cut the fish into large chunks, sprinkle with the salt and leave for 10 min to draw out fishy juices.
3. Put the fish in a colander, pour a kettle of just-boiled water over it, then rinse in cold water, rubbing off any scales or blood. Pat dry.
4. Bring the water, sake, mirin, sugar and sliced ginger to the boil in a wide pan. Add the daikon and fish in one layer.
5. Cover with a drop lid (a circle of baking paper laid on the surface) and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 min.
6. Add the soy sauce and simmer for another 10–15 min, spooning the liquid over now and then, until it has reduced by about half and the daikon is glossy brown.
7. Serve in shallow bowls with some of the sauce, topped with the ginger needles.

Tips

• It tastes even better the next day, once the daikon has soaked up more sauce.
• Salmon or mackerel work well if yellowtail is hard to find.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101