Recipe: Baked Miso Salmon and Brown Rice Donburi

INGREDIENTS

300g Salmon fillets

THE SAUCE

2 tbsp white miso

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp soy sauce

¼ tsp sesame oil (roasted)

200g brown rice

300ml water

SPINACH GOMAE

200g spinach

3 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp of sake

1/2 tsp of mirin

3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

TOPPING

½ tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds (optional)

1 spring onion

Pickled ginger (garnish)

Allergens are marked in bold

Wash rice well using cold running water to remove excess starch and until the water runs clean. On a medium size saucepan pour the rice followed by the water. Bring liquid to boil on high heat. Once vigorously boiling, change to low heat, cover with lid and allow to simmer for 30 minutes until the water level is the same as the top of the rice. At this point, turn the fire completely off and allow to rest for a further 15 minutes keeping the lid on at all times. In a mixing bowl combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well using a spoon, making sure the miso paste is dissolved properly. Finely chop the garlic cloves for the spinach gomae and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, In the meantime in a frying pan on high heat add a teaspoon of vegetable oil once the oil is hot, add the salmon fillets to the pan, skin-side-down, and fry for 3 mins until crisp. Pour over the sauce and cover the fillets making sure they are fully covered with it. Turn the salmon fillets around and add a spoonful of water to the pan.

Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over a high heat until smoking hot. Add the chopped garlic followed by the spinach to the wok and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes, add the soy sauce and mirin, mix well. Add sesame seeds and sesame oil and serve.

Serve the salmon with rice on the side and the spinach gomae. Top it up with pickled ginger and sesame seeds.