Salmon Teriyaki recipe from my cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy"

 My cookbook is available to buy on Amazon. 

I want to share one of the most popular recipes from my cookbook SALMON TERIYAKI. The homemade teriyaki sauce works really well with other meats too including steak and chicken. If you are vegetarian it works beautifully drizzled over steamed vegetables or added to a tofu and vegetable stir fry. This is the perfect dish (Japanese recipe) to bring Japanese cooking into your home!

Without exception, everyone loves this salmon teriyaki recipe – it’s one of the most talked about recipes at my cooking classes. The perfect combination of flavours in the salmon and the sweet teriyaki sauce make this an all-time favourite in households across the world and on menus in both Asian and non-Asian restaurants.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- vegetable oil
- 2 fillets salmon
- handful of sesame seeds to garnish

Teriyaki sauce 
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon sugar/honey

Method:

1.  Combine all the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce, mix well and set aside.
2.  Pour a little vegetable oil into a non-stick frying pan on a medium to high heat.
3.  Place the salmon fillets (skin-side down) on the frying pan and sear both sides of the fish.
4.  When the fish is nearly cooked (place the salmon fillets skin-side down at this point) pour the teriyaki sauce over it.
5.  Use a large spoon to continually pour the sauce over the fish fillets while continuing to fry.
6.  Fry until the teriyaki sauce is reduced to the consistency of a syrup.
7.  Garnish with sesame seeds.

Tip
Keep a close eye on the teriyaki sauce as it can quickly reduce on a high heat and start to burn.

Easy Japanese Miso Shiru Recipe: Miso Soup

When I lived in Japan I had miso soup almost everyday. So, when I left Japan and returned to Ireland I really missed the taste of real Japanese miso soup. I could buy miso soup sachets in Asian supermarkets and health stores or order miso soup in Asian restaurants around the country but none of them compared to the delicious taste of this simple recipe that you can make at home. 

Ingredients: 
1000ml dashi* (homemade or instant dashi)

180g potato (peeled and cut into small bite sized cubes) 
60g onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
2-3 tbsp miso* paste (you can add more if you like a stronger taste)

*Click here to see miso and dashi explained on my "Basic Japanese ingredients - what they are and where you can find them" post
*Click here to see my recipe for homemade dashi (fish stock)

Instructions: 

1. Put the dashi in a medium sized saucepan and turn the heat up to maximum. 
2. Once the dashi is boiling add the potatoes. 
3. When the potatoes are nearly cooked add the onion and continue to boil until the onion slices are nice and soft. 
4. Before adding the miso paste lower the heat allowing the dashi to simmer only. 
5. Dilute the miso paste in a cup of dashi taken from the saucepan. Then, add to the saucepan and gently mix all the ingredients. 

The miso soup is now ready! 

How to eat: 
Serve in a bowl with chopsticks or a spoon. Japanese people hold the bowl to their mouth to drink the soup. They use chopsticks to eat the bite size ingredients in the soup.

Tips:

1. Never boil the miso soup only allow to simmer.
2. Leave the chopped potato cubes into a bowl of cold water for a few minutes to remove excess starch before adding to the dashi.

Why not: 
Add tofu and wakame seaweed instead of potato and onion or any of your favourite vegetables.

Basic Japanese cooking ingredients PART I - what they are and where you can find them

Over the last few years Japanese ingredients have become more and more available in countries outside of Japan. In Ireland you can easily find Japanese ingredients in larger supermarkets, health stores and Asian supermarkets scattered across the country. I buy most of my ingredients in the Asian Market on Drury St in Dublin (they also have another store in Merrywell Business park, Ballymount, Dublin 22). It has a great selection of Japanese ingredients at reasonable prices.

If you want to start cooking Japanese food at home you'll need some basic ingredients in your kitchen cupboard. I made a short list to begin with to keep it simple. You can always add other items to this as you start to cook more Japanese food at home. 

JAPANESE WHITE RICE

Most Japanese people eat rice at least once if not three times a day. So it's important to know how to prepare and cook Japanese rice in order to be able to enjoy a proper Japanese meal at home. Click here to go to my post "How to prepare and cook Japanese rice". 

I buy the Sun Clad Shinode brand of Japanese white rice. It's a large 10 kilo bag and costs just under 20 euro which is very reasonable. If you don't eat a lot of rice then you can buy a smaller bag which they started to stock recently. Superquinn also stock the smaller bag of Shinode sushi rice.

JAPANESE SOYA SAUCE

I prefer to use Japanese soya sauce when I'm cooking Japanese food. I buy Kikkoman Japanese soya sauce with less salt. It's ok to use other types of soya sauce however for authentic Japanese taste I'd recommend using Japanese soya sauce if you can get it.

JAPANESE RICE VINEGAR

Again, I prefer to use Japanese rice vinegar when cooking Japanese foods. Rice vinegar is mostly used to make sushi, Japanese salad dressings and some sauces.

JAPANESE SAKE

The Japanese use sake the same way as we use wine when cooking in the West. Sake is an alcoholic drink made from rice and adds a nice taste to Japanese dishes. It's not necessary to buy an expensive bottle if you're only using it for cooking.

JAPANESE MIRIN

This is a sweet rice wine with a lower alcohol content than sake. It's used for cooking in Japan and adds a nice sweet balance to Japanese dishes. 

JAPANESE FISH STOCK - DASHI

This is Japanese cooking stock. You can buy instant dashi granules like the one pictured below or you can make dashi from scratch. It's worth making homemade dashi if you have time as it tastes better and is healthier than the instant dashi. Click here to see my recipe for Japanese homemade fish stock.

JAPANESE MISO
Miso is made from fermented soya beans. There are many different types of miso and the miso colour can vary from light brown to dark red/brown. Generally the lighter the colour the milder the taste. So if you're new to Japanese food then I'd start off with a lighter colour one. Once miso is opened it should be stored in the refrigerator and can be stored there for a long time (I'm not sure how long exactly but a year anyway!). Click here to see my recipe for "Miso Shiru - Japanese Miso Soup".