Like many of you, I want to try to eat better and cook healthier meals for my family this year. Instead of red meat, we start to eat more fish since it has less saturated fat and cholesterol. One of our favorite fish recipes is Grilled Mackerel. Packed with omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin D, protein and potassium, mackerel is a great choice of fish to include in our diet. This grilled mackerel recipe is extremely easy to make and the only seasoning that I used was shio koji (塩麴), a versatile ingredient in Japanese cooking. If you’re new to shio koji, you can read more about this magical ingredient on this page about shio koji.
Grilled Mackerel With Shio Koji
Now that you’ve learnt about shio koji, let’s talk about this quick and easy mackerel dish. If you are a frequent visitor to Japanese restaurants, you’ve probably seen or tried Saba Shioyaki, or Grilled Mackerel. Saba shioyaki is mackerel seasoned with salt and grilled until the skin is crispy and the flesh is tender. It is sometimes included in bento lunch boxes as well. Since shio koji is rice koji that has been fermented with sea salt, I thought I would just swap salt with shio koji to make Grilled Mackerel. As I expected, the enzyme in shio koji brought out the umami (or richness – one of five basic tastes) of the fish and the result was simply amazing!!! The healthy oil from the fish gave it a nice crispy exterior. And the flesh was very tender and flavorful. With a beautiful char from the crispy mackerel skin, this simple fish dish is ready in minutes.
Make your own shio koji
In case you are not able to find shio koji in your local Japanese supermarkets, I made this video tutorial for you to make your own shio koji. Koji is slightly easier to find than shio koji, so I hope you make your own shio koji to enjoy my shio koji recipes.
Watch How to Make Shio Koji 塩麴・塩糀の作り方
For a step-by-step recipe for Homemade Shio Koji, click here.
To get the Shio Koji Karaage recipe, click here over at the Hikari Miso’s website. Thank you for reading my blog, and enjoy cooking with shio koji!
Note: If you cannot find shio koji, use 1 tsp. sea salt instead. Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Hikari Miso. To read more about my partnership with Hikari Miso, click click here.
