How may times have you been to eat out and ordered something that left you thinking, "I think I'll try to make that myself."
Here's a recipe for a dish that is most often found in Japanese pubs (known as "Izakaya") although it's also popular in Japanese homes these days as well. The fish is mackerel, which despite its well known health benefits, gets a bit of a bad wrap for the fact that it has a reptilian-looking skin and is, well, perhaps a little bit oily on the palate.
I think this recipe raises mackerel to a level where even the biggest doubting Thomas would happily tuck into it.
First, shallow frying your mackerel fillets in potato flour gives the fish fillets a lovely crunch bite (as well as covering up the skin in an attractive, puffy brown coating).
Second, pairing the fish with rocket and onion also balances the oily flavour with something a little more astringent.
As I explained earlier, this recipe is a big favorite at "izakaya", so it must have a lot going for it!
The key is to keep the cooking time short so that the fish doesn't overcook but the coating develops some crunch. You could pair this with a vegetable dish or two and some rice for a health lunch or dinner. I
f you want to jump in and try this recipe, you can watch the Youtube tutorial by clicking Fried Mackerel with Rocket and Onion or just scroll to the bottom of the page. You can find the written recipe just below.
Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.
For an ultra traditional Japanese mackerel dish, why not try my Grilled Salted Mackerel recipe?
Fried Mackerel with Rocket and Onion
ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)
2 fillets of mackerel,*
for the marinade:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
3-4 tbsp potato flour
1/2 red onion
30g rocket, rinsed
1/4 lemon
some vegetable oil
some kitchen paper
*or buy a large mackerel and prepare & fillet by yourself if
you prefer
how to:
remove any bones from the mackerel fillets using tweezers, then slice each fillet into 3 pieces
put the mackerel in a tupperware, drizzle with the soy sauce & mirin and marinade for at least 20 mins, turning once or twice to ensure the marinade is absorbed well
slice the onion very thinly, then soak in water in a bowl for ten mins. rinse well and squeeze out any excess water
coat each mackerel fillet well with potato flour
put 1 cm of vegetable oil in a frying pan and shallow fry for 1-2 mins each side until golden brown
drain on kitchen paper
to assemble, put some rocket on each plate, pile up 3 pieces of mackerel fillet, add the onion on the top and squeeze over the lemon juice
your dish is ready to eat.