In Japan there are literally more ways to prepare fish than one can easily imagine. Yakizakana, grilled fish, is one of my all time favorites. Sakana-no-hoshimono, dried fish, is extremely tasty and quick and easy to make. I discovered this one the other day, it is a whole dried herring with it’s own eggs inside.

About Dried Fish for Grilling in Japan
There are many kinds of drying processes used for fish here. ‘Dried’ overnight with just a bit of salt is very common and tasty. Dried with varying degrees of saltiness; sweet, middle and very salty are also common. This herring is dried with some salt and it’s own eggs filling the entrails cavity. This herring wasn’t dried rock hard, but was semi-dried and soft and juicy after cooking.

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Uncooked

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Grilled and Served

Terminology
Yakizakana 焼き魚: grilled fish
Komochi 子持ち: literally, ‘has child’ (egg)
Maruboshi 丸干し: whole dried (fish)
Nishin にしん: herring

How Did it Taste?
Salty, but not too salty, just the right amount to contrast well with rice. I used the leftovers for chazuke, tea poured over flavored rice, the chopped herring adding the flavor.

The herring did have a slight ‘pickled’ flavor. Herring eggs are rather chewy and are the source of the unusual flavor, I think. The taste reminded me slightly of spiced sausage and seemed a little bergamoty, but, ever so slightly. There is no spice used in the drying process.

This herring was pretty large, about 20cm.

Unfortunately this kind of fish is not yet widely available in English speaking countries. Drying then grilling small fish is a great way to enjoy eating fish with the bones, and usually the head and guts included. (Miwa did remove the larger bones from this one but the rib bones I ate.) I am sure that an enterprising foodie entrepreneur abroad will popularize this genre of fish preparation someday, hopefully someday pretty soon!

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Egg Sac Detail

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – detail

Nizakana can be made with any kind of fish and is well suited for smaller fish that can be simmered whole. Flounder with eggs, komochi, is a favorite in Japan. The mild-mannered Japanese shishito peppers adds color, nutrition and a contrast of flavors.

Nizakana is great because it is quick an easy to make, adds some novel flavors to your fish repertoire and it goes well with other non-Japanese dishes. Nizakana goes equally well with sake or white wine.

Give nizakana a try. The basic recipe can easily be riffed upon and adapted. If you can get whole fish, try doing it nizakana style, even with the head on. I really want to do some Minnesota panfish; sunfish, bluegill, crappie, etc nizakana style. Smallmouth bass, perch, small walleye could all be cooked this way and taste quite similar to what people enjoy in Japan. If you can obtain fish with egg sacs, leave them in!

Nizakana: Flounder with Shishito Peppers

Ingredients

• flounder or similar ‘white meat’ fish
• shishito peppers (small green bell peppers, sliced are an alternative)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 1/4 cup sake or cooking sake (white cooking wine can be substituted)
• 4 tablespoons shoyu

Preparation
Place fish in sauce pan and add water, mirin and sake. (If mirin cannot be obtained, just add sugar to the sake.) The size of the pan should be such that the fish is submerged in the broth.
Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
Add shoyu and sugar if desired.
Add shishito and simmer until cooked and remove from heat and serve immediately.

If you are using a ‘blue’ fish such as mackerel, add some ginger.

Flounder with Eggs (子持ち)

Komochi, literally means ‘has egg/child’.

Komochi Flounder in the Pan

The orange parts are the eggs.

Simmering with Wooden Cover (Otoshibuta)

Otoshibuta: ‘Otoshi’ means to push down and ‘buta’ (futa) means cover. The purpose of the otoshibuta is to submerge the fish as much as possible in the broth. If you don’t have an otoshibuta, just use a regular lid and spoon the broth over the fish as necessary.

Simmering in Sweetened Shoyu and Sake

Mirin contains a lot of sugar and makes food silky and shiny in appearance.

Shishito Added

Shishito will cook very quickly and should not be overcooked.

Nizakana – Done!

Nizakana – Served

Yum!

Another KyotoFoodie article that includes nizakana is right here.