I was just browsing around Youtube watching some Japanese TV shows when I stumbled upon this recipe. They were showing how to make seasoned rice(炊き込みご飯 : takikomigohan) with mackerel! Takikomigohan is a dish you cook rice with other ingredients together in a pot. This is one of the staple menu in my home so I tried many types of takikomigohan including a recipe with red snapper – it turned out beautiful. But mackerel. Wouldn’t it be fishy? I never saw anyone cook with cold water fish, not because it’s forbidden or anything but it do get fishy if you cook it with rice. While being dubious about the idea of using cold water fish in takikomigohan, they started to ‘grill’ the mackerel. What a brilliant solution by separating the cooking process! With this method, you can try any kind of cold water fish like sardines, herring, pacific saury or even salmon.
Atlantic Mackerel vs Pacific Mackerel:
Talking about fish, I experienced quite a bit of difference between the Atlantic mackerel and Pacific mackerel when I was in France. The french has the best quality fish you can get at the farmers market and everything looks like they just jumped out from the sea. As a fish eater, I was thrilled and one day I picked up a mackerel to cook Korean spicy seasoned mackerel. The mackerel looked a bit small and slender but it’s mackerel after all so how can it taste so different? Well, it didn’t came out what I was expecting for. The fat content was evidently different and so did the taste. It was dry and less creamy and I was sad I would not be able to savor one of my favorite dish for a while. Don’t get me wrong. The quality of the fish over there is one of the best in the world in my opinion and when it comes to hairtail, I’ve seen the best one in my life. Although when it comes to cooking East Asian food with Atlantic mackerel, you won’t get what you are looking for. On the other hand I found smoked mackerel is the best with Atlantic mackerel. They are less fishy and so good when you flake them on top of peppery arugula salad. So, if you are planning to try out this dish and you live around the Atlantic ocean area, forget about the mackerel and get any kind of cold fish that is high in fat content than mackerel and you’re good to go 🙂
- 1 Salted mackerel (season it yourself if not available)
- 1 C sushi rice
- 2 pieces ginger (1 piece = size of your thumb)
- 1 pack white beach mushrooms (shimeji)
- 1 1/4 C fish stock (dashi broth)
- 2 scallions (green onions)
- 5 C cold water
- dried anchovies & kelp - as shown on video
- (all available in Japanese or Korean Groceries)
- 1 Tbs soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbs mirin
- 1/2 Tbs Sake(rice wine)
- 1. Put cold water, dried anchovies and kelp in a pot.
- 2. Remove the kelp when the water starts boiling. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- 3. Broil the fish. Pour water underneath the grill to prevent any fishy smoke. A single drop of fish oil can wake up your fire alarm so better not skip this step! Adding couple of pieces of lemon will hell a lot.
- 4. Flake the fish in chunks.
- 5. Wash and rinse rice until the water becomes somewhat clear - it will never get crystal clear because of the starch from the rice so be easy with it! Keep the leftover fish stock for other use.
- 6. Add fish stock and the sauce and mix well.
- 7. Julienne ginger and cut off the bottom part of the mushrooms. Place on top of the rice. Don't mix! If you do so, heat will not go through the rice very well rice and could be undercooked.
- 8. Set on high heat and cook until the water level touch the rice.
- 9. Lower the heat and cover with lid. Wait for 6 minutes.
- 10. Add flaked mackerel and finely chopped scallions. Close the lid.
- 11. Mix right before serving.
- Enjoy!
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