Buri no Teriyaki

Ingredients

• 2yellowtail (buri)fillet pieces, approx. 100 g each
• 1 tspSaltfor pre-salting, draws out moisture and fishy odour
• 1½ tbspSoy saucefor the teriyaki sauce
• 2 tbspMirinfor the sauce's gloss and sweetness
• 1 tbspSakefor the sauce
• ⅓ ozSugarfor the sauce, cane sugar works too
• ⅓ ozgingersliced and cooked along, or finely shredded as a topping
• 1 tbspwheat flourfor a thin dusting so the sauce clings
• 1 tbspVegetable oilfor pan-frying
• Daikon radishgrated, served alongside (optional)
• Spring onionfinely shredded as a topping (optional)

Method

1. Salt the yellowtail fillet pieces on both sides and leave them for 5 to 20 minutes; the salt draws out moisture along with any fishy smell.
2. Blot the liquid that has collected with kitchen paper. If you like, rinse the fish briefly under water, then pat it thoroughly dry.
3. Stir the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar together in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Either slice the ginger, so it can cook in the sauce later, or cut it into fine shreds and set it aside for the topping.
4. Dust the fish all over with a thin coat of wheat flour and tap off the excess – this helps the sauce cling later on.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and lay the fillets in presentation side down. Fry over medium heat for 2 to 4 minutes, then turn and cook for another 1 to 3 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
6. Wipe the excess fat out of the pan with kitchen paper so the sauce reduces cleanly.
7. Pour in the sauce, adding the ginger slices if you cut them, and let it reduce over medium to low heat for 1 to 3 minutes, spooning it over the fish again and again until the pieces glisten.
8. Plate the fish, pour the remaining sauce over it and serve with the shredded ginger you set aside, with finely sliced spring onion or with grated daikon.

Tips and variations

Potato starch works in place of wheat flour for the dusting, or you can skip the coating altogether and fry the fish plain. The sauce takes variations too: leave out the sake and lean heavily on mirin (three parts mirin to one part soy sauce), or skip the sugar and use soy sauce, sake and mirin in equal parts. The ginger slices can also go into the oil from the start rather than joining with the sauce, and if you want the fish even cleaner in flavour, sprinkle it with sake before flouring and pat it dry once more. Blanched shungiku dressed with ground sesame, sugar and soy sauce makes a good side.