Getting Fishy
15 April 2008
We have been in Japan for a month now and I haven’t posted any raw fish recipe yet – so it’s about time!
The best fish in town is certainly sold at Tsukiji, the big wholesale fish market, which I have to admit I haven’t paid any visit yet so far. A friend of ours took us to an obviously very popular sushi place in that area on Sunday evening and the fish was absolutely delicious, making you want to try more of it. Next time I will definitely have to make an effort and drag myself out of bed to watch the bustling market in the very early morning hours.
Meanwhile I usually make my regular grocery shopping in the local supermarket, which is not very large but has a fairly good range of good quality products. Every now and again though I make my way to the food hall of one of the numerous department stores, where I am every time overwhelmed by the variety and quantity of fresh fish and other seafood, most of which you can buy either as a whole or neatly portioned (as you may guess, I prefer the latter option). The products look so fresh and inviting that I can never make up my mind between all the different types of prawns, squids, scallops, or whatever else. I usually end up buying much more than Simon and I can actually eat at once, so as soon as I get home I freeze part of it, which, given that the products really are very fresh, works perfectly.
Although I am a big fan of shellfish & co. the tasty tuna is one of the hardest to resist. There are various kinds of tuna meat at very different price levels, depending on which part of the body they come from. The exact division of the fish is of course much more faceted, but very generally speaking, there is the lean, red meat (akami), as opposed to the fatty, pink meat taken from the tuna’s belly (toro). For sushi and sashimi I have completely fallen for the toro, which is so soft and tender and just melts on your tongue like butter (market prices suggest that I am not the only one with this preference). But for searing it as a steak or mixing it into a salad like in the following recipe I prefer the firmer texture of the lean tuna meat.
Tuna Sashimi and Seaweed Salad
| serves 4 |
| 350g sashimi quality tuna (akami, i.e. lean, red meat) |
| 10g dried seaweed |
| 2 Japanese thin cucumbers
(or 1/2 large one) |
| 10 thin spring onions (or 3 large ones) |
| juice of 1 yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit –
take lime alternatively) |
| 5 tablespoons of soy sauce |
| 3 tablespoons of Japanese rice vinegar |
| 2 tablespoons of mirin
(sweet cooking rice wine) |
| 2 teaspoons of dark sesame oil |
| 1-2 teaspoons of wasabi |
Peel the cucumbers and cut them into very thin slices of about 1mm. If you use “western”, i.e. large, cucumbers, cut them in half and remove the pits before further processing them. Very slightly salt the cucumbers, stir them and let them rest in a sieve for about 20 minutes so the excess water drops out.
Soak the dried seaweed in warm water and wait until it rehydrates (will take at least 10 minutes).
Meanwhile squeeze the yuzu (or lime) and mix the juice with the soy sauce, the rice vinegar, the mirin and the sesame oil. Finely chop the spring onions and add them to the dressing. Finally season to taste with wasabi – add it bit by bit and keep trying the sauce so it does not suddenly get too spicy.
Drain the seaweed and, if the leaves are too large, chop them it into bite-sized bits. Dice the tuna, first cutting off about 2cm slices in a right angle to the structure of the meat, then slicing them further into cubes along the structure of the meat.
Finally mix the tuna with the seaweed as well as the cucumbers and marinate with the dressing.
| Suggestions to Combine | |
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