Salmon Kasujiru – Recipe

I still have a lot of sake kasu left in the freezer from my trip to Kyoto – one chilly winter's day earlier this year I decided to make the hearty Japanese stew kasujiru, which uses sake kasu to bring a rich umami flavour to the dish. I forgot I'd already written the recipe and never posted it, so ironically it's now summer time now I'm posting this.

Ingredients:

1 large fillet of salmon, descaled or skinned and cut into chunks
60g sake kasu
1 large tbsp white miso
70ml hot water
500ml dashi stock
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 small daikon chopped
3 spring onions, sliced diagonally and separated white from green parts
Shredded pink ('watermelon') radish, to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Blanch the salmon chunks in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and set aside on some paper towel.

2. Lightly whisk the sake kasu, miso and hot water together in a small bowl, mashing to break up the sake kasu.

3. Bring the dashi stock to a boil in a medium-sized pan with the carrots, potatoes, daikon and white parts of the spring onion (if you're using purple potatoes, boil in water separately, drain and rinse to avoid the colour spoiling into the dish). Boil for 10 minutes, then stir in the sake kasu-miso mixture until dissolved. Add the salmon, cover and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the veg is soft. If you've cooked purple potatoes separately, make sure they're well-rinsed and drained before adding right at the end.

4. Serve with the raw green part of the spring onion and some shredded pink radish.


Enjoy, and have fun.