Recipe: Simmered Karei (Flounder/Ikan Sebelah) Japanese-style

I love spending hours browsing the supermarket for fresh produce or discovering new and interesting ingredients. Both my kids love eating fish very much, and in the Japanese section I found karei fillet. I later found out that this white fish is known as flounder (a type of flat fish) or also known as ikan sebelah in Malay.

Simmered Karei

The method of preparation that I chose is a simple Japanese style of simmering it in a mixture of sake, mirin, dashi, soy and sugar. Since the fillet is quite thin, it only took about 2 minutes to cook. I served the fish with some grated daikon and cute carrot shapes and my kids cleaned the whole plate. It makes me happy to see them enjoying a healthy dish with such enthusiasm. By the way, you can use any other firm-fleshed white fish with this recipe if you cannot get karei.

Simmered Karei (Flounder) Japanese style
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Japanese Bible
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes
Serves 1 (or 2 kids)

Ingredients
150g karei fillet (or other firm-fleshed white fish)
3/4 tbsp cooking sake
3/4 tbsp mirin
30ml dashi stock
20ml Japanese soy sauce

To garnish
Daikon (radish), finely grated
Carrots, sliced thinly
Parsley

1. Rinse fish under cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Place sake, mirin, dashi and soy sauce in a deep frying pan or wok. Bring to the boil over high heat, and once boiling place the fish into the pan. Spoon some sauce over the fish and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 minute, flipping over and then cooking for another minute or until the flesh is opaque.

3. Carefully use a spatula to lift the fish onto plate. Spoon sauce over the fish and garnish with daikon, carrots and parsley. Serve immediately.

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