Japanese Style Braised Flounder
….”Just looking at it makes you crave rice” Japanese-style soy sauce braised fish!! Sometimes, when I fry a flounder with roe crisply in a pan, my husband starts eating the roe! However, the flounder I bought today unfortunately didn’t have any roe, so I simmered it luxuriously in Katsuobushi broth with soy sauce, turning it into the best main dish. You can taste the chewiness by simmering the tender flesh of the flounder in a mixture of sugar and soy sauce over low heat. It looked great when I added chopped spring onions, shiitake mushrooms, shishito peppers, and leaks from the refrigerator. I lightly grilled the vegetables in a dry pan and simmered them together, making them taste sweet and savory, so they were eaten first. It’s said that you can also enjoy a good taste by simmering sea bream or mackerel in soy sauce. A small tip is that using Katsuobushi broth brings a different flavor and is much more luxurious than you think. Boil it over medium heat and keep ladling the broth over the fish as it simmers. Since the fish is not turned over and the shape is not distorted, it looks clean and nice on the plate. Although my husband complained again today that it’s a bit troublesome to eat while removing the fish bones, the plate was piled high with fish bones… hehe.
Servings: 2–3
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 600 g of fresh flounder, cut in half
- 600 ml first soup (katsuobushi broth)
- 1.5 tbsp sugar
- 5–6 tbsp Mat-Gan-Jang
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 15g fresh ginger, sliced
- 4 shiitake mushrooms
- 1 leek, cut into 1-inch pieces or green onion
- 1 fresh onion
- 6 shishito peppers
Cooking Instructions:
- Sprinkle the mirin onto the flounder and set it aside for 10–15 minutes.
2. Combine the katsuobushi broth, sugar, Mat-Gan-Jang, and sake in a bowl.
3. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and lightly grill the shiitake mushrooms, shishito peppers, green onion, leek, and fresh onion. Set aside.
4. Heat a wide pan over medium-high heat and add the mixed sauce to it.
5. Add the sliced ginger to the pan and bring to a boil.
6. Start bringing to a boil, then put the flounder into the wide pan and bring to a boil.
7. Start bringing to a boil again, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the soy sauce has reduced by half. (While simmering, sprinkle the fish with soy sauce using a spoon).
8. Remove any floating bubbles with a spoon.
9. After reducing the soy sauce by half, add the grilled vegetables into the pot and simmer them for 5 minutes.
10. Serve it with a bowl of rice.
You can also view this recipe on Instagram.
