There was an egg festival in my bowl of rice the other day. I placed a raw egg yolk on a mound of
ikura (salmon roe) on top of my steaming hot bowl of rice. The orange hues are sexy and appetizing, glimmering in my bowl.
No matter how many times I have
ikuradon (ikura over rice), I always feel like royalty when it appears in front of me. Honestly, I don't know why ikura has to be so expensive because curing is not very involved. The only thing that I can imagine to be bothersome in the salmon roe curing process is that you have to wait for about half a day for the curing to complete its course. Otherwise, curing
ikura is simple.
This time, I took the advice of Umamimart contributor and Hokkaido native,
Kenji Miura. On my
post about curing ikura, he commented that the Hokkaido way uses salt instead of soy sauce and mirin instead of sake.
I used the following for salt-cured
ikura:
1/2 lb of
sujiko (fresh salmon roe)
6 tbsp of mirin
3 tbsp of sea salt
1 tsp of soy sauce
1/2 inch square
kombu (kelp)
Follow the instructions for separating the ikura on my
previous post. Combine the mirin, salt, soy sauce in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let it cool. Add
kombu to mixture.
Place separated and rinse
ikura in an air tight container. Pour liquid over the
ikura and seal.
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and then drain and quickly rinse the ikura. They will last for about 2-3 days in the fridge.
The results were very pleasing. I liked that with the minimal use of soy sauce, the ikura retained their bright topaz-ruby colors while the mirin enhanced the natural sweetness of each bead. Hokkaido-style ikura success!
You may remember from my Hokkaido posts from 2009 that it is the island of
ikura and
soft ice-cream, two favorites of mine. Maybe that's why I tend to get along with people from Hokkaido.
My best friend in Tokyo, Mizuki, is a Hakodate, Hokkaido native.
Mizuki with a big bowl of sake.
Kenji Miura my food mentor and an Umamimart contributor is an Obihiro, Hokkaido native.
Kenji with warabi-mochi gold.
These people know how to eat and drink.
Anyway, here's how I made my Egg-festival Rice Bowl.
INGREDIENTS
One serving
2 cups of fresh, hot steamed rice
2-3 tablespoons of salt and mirin cured
ikura
1 egg (from a trusted source i.e. Japanese eggs or farm fresh)
Strands of
nori (seaweed) for garnish
Strands of
shiso (optional)
METHOD
1. Pour rice into a big
donburi bowl.
2. Carefully compile the
ikura on the rice.
3. Separate the yolk from the eggs. Place the egg on top of the beads of
ikura.
4. Garnish with
nori and
shiso (optional)
If this doesn't make you scream with glee, I am not sure if we'd get along.
There was an egg festival in my bowl of rice the other day. I placed a raw egg yolk on a mound of ikura (salmon roe) on top of my steaming hot bowl of rice. The orange hues are sexy and appetizing, glimmering in my bowl.
No matter how many times I have ikuradon (ikura over rice), I always feel like royalty when it appears in front of me. Honestly, I don't know why ikura has to be so expensive because curing is not very involved. The only thing that I can imagine to be bothersome in the salmon roe curing process is that you have to wait for about half a day for the curing to complete its course. Otherwise, curing ikura is simple.
This time, I took the advice of Umamimart contributor and Hokkaido native, Kenji Miura. On my post about curing ikura, he commented that the Hokkaido way uses salt instead of soy sauce and mirin instead of sake.
I used the following for salt-cured ikura:
1/2 lb of sujiko (fresh salmon roe)
6 tbsp of mirin
3 tbsp of sea salt
1 tsp of soy sauce
1/2 inch square kombu (kelp)
Follow the instructions for separating the ikura on my previous post. Combine the mirin, salt, soy sauce in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let it cool. Add kombu to mixture.
Place separated and rinse ikura in an air tight container. Pour liquid over the ikura and seal.
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and then drain and quickly rinse the ikura. They will last for about 2-3 days in the fridge.
The results were very pleasing. I liked that with the minimal use of soy sauce, the ikura retained their bright topaz-ruby colors while the mirin enhanced the natural sweetness of each bead. Hokkaido-style ikura success!
You may remember from my Hokkaido posts from 2009 that it is the island of ikura and soft ice-cream, two favorites of mine. Maybe that's why I tend to get along with people from Hokkaido.
My best friend in Tokyo, Mizuki, is a Hakodate, Hokkaido native.
Mizuki with a big bowl of sake.
Kenji Miura my food mentor and an Umamimart contributor is an Obihiro, Hokkaido native.
Kenji with warabi-mochi gold.
These people know how to eat and drink.
Anyway, here's how I made my Egg-festival Rice Bowl.
INGREDIENTS
One serving
2 cups of fresh, hot steamed rice
2-3 tablespoons of salt and mirin cured ikura
1 egg (from a trusted source i.e. Japanese eggs or farm fresh)
Strands of nori (seaweed) for garnish
Strands of shiso (optional)
METHOD
1. Pour rice into a big donburi bowl.
2. Carefully compile the ikura on the rice.
3. Separate the yolk from the eggs. Place the egg on top of the beads of ikura.
4. Garnish with nori and shiso (optional)
If this doesn't make you scream with glee, I am not sure if we'd get along.
Comments (14)
I am not sure why they are coming out waxy and shriveled. Do you know if the eggs are very fresh? I know that if I leave my ikura around for too long (over 3-4 days), they will shrivel. It’s best to cure for 1 day and eat them within 3 days.
Hi yokokumano,
The eggs in the first batch I did were previously frozen so I’m not sure how fresh they were. For that batch I just picked out the hard ones and discarded them. This second batch I did today was from fresh eggs from a fish that was caught this morning so they are extremely fresh. I’ve been reading that other recipes use only salt and water (no mirin or kombu). I’m pretty sure it’s not the kombu, but maybe the mirin instead of water is causing the water to come out of the eggs? Also, I noticed that the salt does not dissolve completely in the mirin and I’m only using 2 tbsp instead of 3.
Well, they are certainly fresh then! Without the mirin or kombu there would be no umami element in the ikura. I wish I could diagnose your problem, but I have never had the issue you are facing happen to me.
Ok, thanks for trying. I added about 4 tbsp of water to the eggs and they are starting to soften. When you bite into the hard ones the center of the eggs is like a ball of wax and it sticks to your teeth like hard candy, very unappealing. I still have about 1 lb of eggs left so I may try a similar recipe using water, salt, sugar, sake, and kombu. I’ll let you know how they come out.