I have more recipes I can post but I am trying a few zaar members recipes over the next couple of days so I thought I would post one now so I don’t end up with too many posted in a row. This recipe was superb, I absolutely loved this one, I served mine with tempura vegetables which I have posted before but I will list the recipe again below if you enjoyed this recipe and would like to read more recipes by this chef or read other reviews click here. I will also be posting the last of the competitions entries over the weekend or maybe the beginning of the week. There are a couple of days left so don’t think you have run out of time as long as you post it by the 31st I will make it and you will be included. Good luck to everyone that has entered.

Ingredients

4 Firm white fish fillets, about 180 g each
2 Tablespoons oil
Cornstarch, for dusting fish

1 Small onion, finely julienned
1 Small carrot, cut into matchstick sized pieces
3/4 Cup dashi, made up to the directions on your packet (would be “OK”) or chicken stock (would be “OK”)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon sake
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with
1/2 Cup water
2 Tablespoons finely sliced green onions

Method

1. Dust the dish in the cornstarch, shaking off any excess.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy based frypan, and cook your fish fillets until done.

3. We used very thick fillets last night, and it took about 10 minutes.

4. When the fish is done, remove to a warm plate, increase the heat in the pan and add the carrot and onion.

5. Cook for a couple of minutes, before adding the dashi, sugar, sake and soy.

6.Cook this mix for another 2 minutes, then add the cornflour/water mix to the pan along with the veg mix and cook until this has thickened-about another 2 minutes.

7. Serve this sauce over the fish fillets, and garnish with a little sliced green onion.

I served mine with tempura vegatebles with a dipping sauce.

Tempura Batter

1 egg, beaten lightly
1 Cup plain flour
1 Cup cornflour
2 Cups iced soda water

Vegetables

You can use just about any mix of vegetables, below is just a suggestion. This is also the same way to make seafood tempura you can also make this as a starter with a mixture of seafood and vegetables.

1 Carrot, slice pieces off with a vegetable peeler
1 small red capsicum, seeded cut into squares
1 onion, cut into wedges
8 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and halved
8-10 baby asparagus
2 sheets toasted seaweed (yaki-nori)
1 small sweet potato, sliced thinly
20g dried wheat noodles, cut in half for decoration

Dipping sauce

1. Cut seaweed into 5cm squares, halve the sheet and cut into 2cm-wide strips. Brush strips with water and wrap tightly around noodles in the middle, reserve noodle bunches

2. Mix all the ingredients for the batter together, this should not be a smooth batter, but should have a few lumps of flour in it. It is best made just before beginning to deep fry. Always make with iced or chilled water and never leave batter to sit for to long before using.

3. Heat oil to moderately hot 170c in wok or deep pan. Dust chopped vegetables, except seaweed squares, lightly in flour. Dip seaweed squares and other ingredients into batter, drain excess batter, deep fry ingredients, in batches until golden. Drain on absorbent paper. Only fry small amounts at a time to allow for oil to come back to correct temperature before next batch is added.

4 Finally deep fry noodle bunches and serve as a garnish.

5. Combine all sauce ingredients stir to mix.

6. Serve tempura immediately with individual bowls of dipping sauce.

Recipe for Dashi

If you can’t get instant dashi here is a recipe for primary dashi. The recipe makes quite a lot but if you make Japanese often it will keep in the fridge for a few days and last in the freezer for a month but it will lose some of it’s delicate flavour and aroma.

15g dried kelp (konbu)
1 litre cold water
15g large smoked dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)

1. Wipe kelp with a damp cloth, cut into 3-4 large pieces. Place kelp in a large saucepan with water, cook uncovered, about 10 Min’s or until just about to come to a boil.

2. Remove kelp, bring liquid to boil and add another 1/4 cup cold water along with bonito flakes, return just to a boil, remove from heat immediately.

3. Strain dashi through a muslin-lined sieve into another pan.

All photo’s taken by me unless otherwise stated.