maguro soboro

The other day, I was at the market, looking for something extra for our rice.

I was about to pick up a jar of flaked salmon, but right next to it was flaked maguro (tuna), so I purchased it instead....398 yen.

The maguro was tender, flavored with soy and sugar.

Perfect on rice and delicious on omlettes too.

If you're interested in making your own, here's a recipe I tried for a salmon version.

p.s. I got back the results of my physical, my cholesterol is still high, though it went down about 20 points (the good cholesterol is still high) and my triglyceride count went down a couple of points too.

Still have lots of work to do, hopefully my stats will get better by the next one.

holy saba (mackerel)!

This was such an easy recipe and I found it on the back of the tomato paste package!

Tomato saba soboro (ground mackerel seasoned with tomato) adapted from Kagome tomato paste package
190g canned saba mizuni (mackerel packed in water)
100g tomato paste (about 6 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 inch nub of ginger, grated
2 tablespoon sesame seed

Put everything except the sesame seeds into a pan and heat until liquid has evaporated. Break up saba so that there are no big pieces. Put into a bowl and sprinkle sesame seeds. Eat with rice on the side or put onto your rice.

I also served this with kyuri asazuke(lightly pickled cucumbers) and steamed beans.

NOTES: I keep my ginger in the freezer, so a few minutes after taking it out, it was easy to peel and grate. Though this dish didn't look too appetizing, it was very delicious. I thought it might be too tomatoey but the ginger, shoyu and mirin actually makes this dish Japanese-y.

Has anyone tried the mackerel in tomato sauce? I haven't tried that and I was wondering what type of seasoning that has. If it is just tomato sauce, you may be able to use that and add in the ginger, shoyu and mirin to make this dish.

p.s. I wanted to show you this interesting apple. It is called Akibae and means glorious Autumn. And glorious it is, it is a cross between a Tsugaru and Chiaki apples. The red peel is so dark that it almost looks chocolatey or black. It is also quite crisp and sweet like a Fuji.