Nizakana Fish Poached in Soy Sauce and Sake from Tokyo Cult Recipes, by Maori Murota
Recipe and images excerpted from Tokyo Cult Recipes, by Maori Murota (Harper Design, $43.50). Photograph by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle. Styling by Maori Murota & Sabrina Fauda-Role.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
4 small (or 2 medium) white fish, such as ocean perch or small sea bream, gutted and scaled – ask your fishmonger to do this
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon raw (demerara) sugar
200 mL (7 ounces) sake
160 mL (5 ounces) water
1 leek (white part), cut into 3-centimetre (1-inch) lengths
4 thin slices ginger
Method
Clean the fish thoroughly (especially inside the cavity). Dry with paper towel. Score each side of the fish once or twice on the diagonal.
Choose a saucepan large enough to hold the fish in a single layer. (If you have a bamboo leaf, place it in the base of the saucepan, so the fish don’t stick.) Add the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, sake and water to the pan.
Bring to a boil and add the fish, leek and ginger. Cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Lower the heat and cook for 5-6 minutes on a low-medium heat.
Remove the lid and cook on a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes to reduce the sauce.
Baste the fish with the sauce from time to time. Once the fish is cooked and the sauce has thickened, take off the heat.
Serve the fish on individual plates with the slices of ginger and the sauce.