JAPANESE MISO SALMON SALAD RECIPE

Recent research carried out by Bord Bia shows that Irish people like eating fish when dining out however as an island nation we are surprisingly not confident cooking fresh fish at home. Bord Bia has launched a campaign to encourage Irish people to buy more fresh fish and as part of this campaign they posted simple fish recipes and advice from celebrity chef Martin Shanahan on their website.

Here are some of my tips for buying fresh fish: 

• Try to buy fish from your local fishmonger
• Don't be afraid to ask your fishmonger to fillet, debone or skin your fish
• Fresh fish should have a nice fresh sea smell and not a foul smell. It should look shiny, have bright eyes, red gills and any liquid on the fish should be clear
• Ask your fishmonger lots of questions to educate yourself about fish (e.g. when was the fish caught, where does it come from, is it wild or farmed fish etc)

MISO SALMON SALAD

When cooking fresh fish it can easily become dry and overcooked. By cooking fish in a sauce it will become tender and moist.

INGREDIENTS: 
2 x salmon fillet
Few large handfuls of spinach salad leaves
Few handfuls of cherry tomatoes
Roasted sesame seeds (to garnish)

For the miso sauce
120ml cold water
2 tbsp miso
2tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
3 tbsp sake (Japanese rice wine) 

Serves 2

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients for the miso sauce in a medium sized saucepan, then using a whisk/fork mix until there's no lumps. 
2. Put on medium heat and after a few minutes it will start to simmer. Let it simmer for a few minutes. 
3. Gently place the salmon fillets in the saucepan side by side with the skin facing up.
4. Cut out a circle of  grease proof paper the size of the saucepan and use this to cover the salmon fillets. You can use a lid to cover the saucepan if you don't have grease proof paper. 
5. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes and then set aside.
6. Place the spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes and salmon fillets in a large salad bowl. 
7. Using your hand or a large spoon break up the salmon fillets into chunks.
8. Just before serving pour the miso sauce over the salad ingredients and mix well.
9. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds over the salad.
 

BENTO - JAPANESE STYLE LUNCHBOX

Japanese people take great pride in preparing bento for their families. Many Japanese mothers get up quite early in the morning to make bento. They put a lot of effort and time into creating a bento that is nutritionally balanced, tastes great and looks appealing. In Japan, the appearance of the food is just as important as the taste! Generally, the bento will have rice, fish or meat and some kind of vegetable or fruit. Since the bento box is divided into different compartments various dishes can be stored in the box together.

It is surprising how quickly you can become immersed in this bento culture. When I lived in Japan the thoughts of bringing my bento to work every day seemed like a chore but it didn't take long before I was looking forward to making my bento every night.

Here is a bento that I made for my family at the weekend. It is served in a bento box used by Japanese restaurants and can be used to serve a Japanese meal at home. I bought this online from Amazon! The bento box used for work/ school lunches is smaller and more compact.

BENTO BOX MENU

1. Japanese rice - click here to see my post on how to cook Japanese rice. You can use any type of rice of this meal.

2. Japanese style pan fried cod fillet 
Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil or rapeseed oil (for frying)
Cod fillet
2 tbsp sake

Pinch of salt

Thumb size piece of ginger root (peeled and finely grated) 
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce

Instructions:
Marinate the cod in sake and salt. Leave for about 10 minutes before frying.
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium to high heat. 
Place the cod on the pan and seal one side by frying for a minute or so. Then turn the cod over and seal the other side. 
Reduce the heat and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or less. 
Mix the ginger and soy sauce together in a small bowl and then pour over the fish when ready to eat. 

3. Japanese style stir fried spinach/pak choi with beansprouts

Ingredients: 
1 tbsp vegetable oil or rapeseed oil (for frying)
2 large garlic cloves (peeled and finely grated)
Thumbsize piece of ginger (peeled and finely grated)
200g Spinach/ Pak choi
200g Beansprouts

Seasoning (mix all in a bowl together):
2 tbsp sake (Japanese rice wine)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
2 tsp caster sugar

Roasted sesame seeds (optional to garnish)

Instructions:
Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan on medium to high heat. 
Add the garlic and fry for about 10 seconds. The quickly add the ginger and fry for another 10 seconds.
Toss in the beansprouts and stir. 
After less than one minute add the spinach. 
Pour the seasoning evenly over the vegetables. 
Fry for a few minutes until the seasoning has absorbed into the vegetables.
When ready to serve sprinkle roasted sesame seeds over the vegetables. 

4. Sliced melon and mango sprinkled with pomegranate (Japanese people often eat fruit as dessert)
Ingredients:
Honeydew melon 
Mango
Handful of pomegranate seeds

Instructions:
Peel and cut the chilled melon and mango into small bite size cubes.
Toss a handful of pomegranate seeds over the fruit salad.

How to eat:
Bento goes well with miso soup if you're eating it at home or in a restaurant.

Tips:
Pack a smaller version of this bento into a lunch box by using cupcake cases or tinfoil to separate the dishes.
Be adventurous by swapping the dishes in this bento with your favourite Japanese dishes.

Why not:
You can get takeaway bentos in a few places in Dublin including Kokoro on Lower Liffey Street in Dublin http://kokorosushibento.com/
Musashi noodle and sushi bar and Michie sushi in Dublin, Ireland have a reasonably priced bento lunch deal