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Tsumire means, quite
literally, sardine balls and these are added to this delicious
Tsumire-jiru soup to impart their robust fish flavor. This is a
warming and nutritious dish for winter.
Ingredients
- fresh root ginger - 20g/¾ oz
- fresh sardine - 800g/1¾ lb,
gutted and heads removed
- white miso paste - 30ml/2 tbsp
- sake or dry white wine - 15ml/1
tbsp
- sugar - 7.5ml/½ tbsp
- egg - 1
- corn flour - 30ml/2 tbsp
- shimeji mushroom - 150g/5 oz, or
shiitake mushroom - 6
- leek or large spring onion - 1
For the soup
- sake - 100ml/3½fl oz/generous
⁄ cup, or dry white wine
- instant dashi (stock) - 1.2
liters/2 pints/5 cups
- white miso paste - 60ml/4 tbsp
Method
- First make the fish balls. Grate
the ginger and squeeze it well to yield 5ml/1 tsp ginger juice.
- Rinse the sardines under cold
water, then cut in half along the backbone. Remove all the bones.
- To skin a boned sardine, lay it
skin side down on a board, then run a sharp knife slowly along the
skin from tail to head.
- Coarsely chop the sardines and
process with the ginger juice, miso, sake or wine, sugar and egg
to a thick paste in a food processor or blender.
- Transfer to a bowl and mix in
the corn flour well.
- Trim the shimeji mushroom and
separate each stem or remove the stem from the shiitake mushroom
and shred them.
- Cut the leek or spring onion
into 4cm/1½ in long strips.
- Bring the ingredients for the
soup to the boil. Use two wet spoon to shape small portions od the
sardine mixture into bite-sized balls and drop them into the soup.
- Add the mushrooms and leeks or
spring onions.
- Simmer until the sardine balls
float to the surface. Serve immediately, in four deep bowl. Serves
4.
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