Japanese cuisine · Salads & Mezze

Katsuo no Shoyu Zuke

Bonito slices briefly steeped in soy sauce, sake and ginger, served cold over shiso leaves.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 500 g bonito fillet, whole (or sashimi-grade tuna as a substitute)
• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 piece ginger (4 cm)
• 2 cloves garlic
• a few shiso leaves (optional)
• 2 spring onions
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Bring the sake with the mirin to a boil in a small pot and let bubble for 1 min. so the alcohol evaporates, then let cool completely.
2. Stir the cooled mixture with the soy sauce, the finely grated ginger and one clove of garlic cut into paper-thin slices into a marinade.
3. Pat the bonito fillet dry and cut with a very sharp knife across the grain into 8 mm thick slices.
4. Lay the slices side by side in a shallow dish, pour over the marinade and let steep covered in the refrigerator for exactly 15 min. — any longer and the fish turns firm and salty.
5. Cut the second garlic clove into paper-thin slices, the spring onions into fine rings, and toast the sesame seeds dry for 2 min.
6. Lay the shiso leaves on a cold platter, arrange the drained slices on top overlapping like roof tiles, and serve at once sprinkled with garlic, spring onions and sesame seeds.