← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 2 mackerel fillets (about 300 g), halved
• 3 cm piece Ginger, half thinly sliced, half cut into fine matchsticks
• 150 ml Water
• 4 tbsp Sake
• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 3 tbsp red or awase miso
• 1 tsp Soy sauce

Method

1. Score a shallow cross into the skin of each piece. Put the fish in a colander, pour boiling water over it to firm the surface and remove any fishy smell, then rinse in cold water and pat dry.
2. In a frying pan just big enough to hold the fish, bring the water, sake, mirin, sugar and sliced ginger to the boil over medium heat.
3. Lay in the mackerel skin side up. Cover with a drop lid (a circle of baking paper with a hole in the middle) and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 min, spooning the liquid over now and then.
4. Mix the miso with a ladle of the hot liquid until smooth, then stir it into the pan with the soy.
5. Simmer uncovered for 5–7 min, basting often, until the sauce reduces to a thick, shiny glaze.
6. Serve the fish with the sauce poured over and the ginger matchsticks on top, with rice and miso soup.

Tips

• Contains soy; check your miso is wheat-free and use tamari if you need it gluten-free.
• Leftovers are lovely cold the next day in a bento box.

Sources

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

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101 Chopstick Chronicles