cold days and kabu

These are really late autumn foods, but kabu and buri are still delicious in mid winter. Kabu is a cute round turnip, and buri is yellowtail. Fish names can be confusing in Japan, as they sometimes get different names at different stages of their life. So yellowtail is called hamachi when it's around 3 kilos, and makes delicious sashimi. When it gets bigger, it's called buri, and has a higher fat content, making it a delicious winter fish. Since buri fillets are really cheap at this time of the year, I decided to make buri no teriyaki. It's really easy because you can just cook it in a fry pan. Just marinate the fish for about 30 minutes in soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar (I heat the sauce ingredients gently first, to dissolve the sugar). You take the fish fillets out of the sauce, fry for a few minutes on each side, then add the sauce to the pan. Take the fish out when it's ready and reduce the sauce a little and you can pour it over the fish. If you're in a hurry, you don't need to marinate - just fry the fish and add the sauce to the pan; it's still delicious. If you want to see how to do it all properly, watch "Cooking with Dog" on youtube: it's the best!

Don't worry about the 'black' bits - it's just the sugar caramelised 

This time, I decided to make pickled turnip as well, so I made "kiku kabu", turnip chrysanthemums. They're easy if you're patient! Cutting the turnips finely was very relaxing. You should peel the turnips and cut the base (where the leaves came out) flat. You need to make fine cuts perpendicular to the cutting board in one direction, then do the same at 90 degrees, so you get a hash pattern, being careful not to cut right through. The secret is to use disposable chopsticks to stop you cutting too far. Then, soak the turnips in salt water for about 30 mins to help soften them up. After that, squeeze as much water out as you can (without breaking the turnip "petals") and soak in a mix of rice vinegar, sugar, a little dashi and mirin for 30 minutes to an hour, or longer if you like - you'll get a stronger taste, and softer turnip. Again, squeeze as much liquid out as you can, and twist the 'petals' around to look more natural. Traditionally, you garnish it with thinly sliced chili, but I didn't have any, so I put some finely minced beni shouga (red pickled ginger) to make the flower centres.

Here are the main steps, but again, I'm no cooking expert - watch Cooking with Dog!

Disposable chopsticks work well because they're flat & won't roll around

After soaking in salt water for 30 mins - much softer

Finished! It's quite a sweet, delicate pickle, especially if you use mild vinegar

It's a pretty healthy meal - just add rice, miso soup and some cooked veggies or a salad. Buri no teriyaki is really delicious! The only downside is it has a lot of bones, so be careful not to scoff it down too fast!