Japanese Recipe: Sake Mushi

This recipe is courtesy of Kobayashi Chikashi.

It’s always a treat for Dave and myself when we eat fish since it’s the only meat we have in our diet. I’m a big fan of seafood and I’m all about the fishy flavor in, well, fish, but apparently I’m utterly alone on that when it comes to preparing it.

Amazingly (to me), the Japanese like to quiet the intensity of fish dishes and use soy sauce, ginger and sake, among other flavorings, to that end. These three ingredients aren’t necessarily used all at once (in teriyaki they are) but can be used individually to tame the wild flavor of fish.

Sake Mushi is one way the Japanese use sake as a fish seasoning. Mushi means “to steam” and Sake is sake. Sake mushi: “steam in sake”. The steaming process cooks the fish evenly and leaves it incredibly moist while taking away any of the strong flavors. No added fat in this recipe makes it heart healthy, but the use of salt may negate that some, depending on how much is used.

SAKE MUSHI

Ingredients:

• 4 quality fish fillets (doesn’t matter what kind of fish as long as it’s quality)
• 8 sheets of konbu
• Sake
• Light colored soy sauce (you can use regular but the light detracts less from the appearance of the fish)
• Salt
• Fresh lemon, cut into wedges
• Green onions sliced lengthwise, to garnish
• Rice, to serve with

Directions:

1. Invert two small heat resistant bowls in the bottom of a large wok. Place a small casserole dish on top of the inverted bowls. Fill the wok with water, covering the small bowls.
2.Rinse fillets in cold water, pat dry. Sprinkle liberally with salt on both sides. The salt gets absorbed into the fish and should be applied liberally now as this is an important step in how salty the fish will be when it’s cooked. If you’re not a fan of salt, salt lightly or not all. However, it really does add significant flavor to the fish.
3.Line the casserole dish with the konbu. Place the salted fillets on top of the konbu.
4.Sprinkle the top of the fillets with soy sauce to taste. Once again, if you like soy sauce add more, if not add less.
5.Pour enough sake to just cover the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle the green onions on the fillets. Cover the wok and turn the burner on high. When the wok starts to steam, turn the heat down to medium high and steam the fish for 10-12 minutes or until the fish is white all the way through and is flaky. Serve immediately with warm rice and the lemon wedges.

Makes four servings.

This is a super easy, quick way to prepare fish without sacrificing flavor. Even people who are too timid or don’t know how to prepare fish should be able to make Sake Mushi without any problems. And the ingredients are readily available to most, if not all people interested in making the recipe.

I like Sake Mushi because it’s:

• So easy and quick to make
• Inexpensive
• Healthy
• Tasty and lets the fish stand alone
• Not an intimidating Japanese/fish dish

I think the only bad things I have to say about Sake Mushi is that since my tastes run to extremes, I would only really want to eat this when it’s:

• Prepared with quality fish
• Eaten on occasion

Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 35 minutes
Ingredient: Easy to Moderate