Fried Smelts with Bright Mustard Sauce

Name: Fried Smelts with Bright Mustard Sauce (Kisu no Karashi Miso Soé)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cold water; 3-4 tablespoons dashi (basic sea stock); 1 tablespoon sugar; ⅓ cup shiro miso (light fermented bean paste); 1 teaspoon soy sauce; 1 teaspoon hot mustard powder (preferably karashi); 1½ tablespoons cornstarch; 1 teaspoon saké (Japanese rice wine); 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 tablespoons rice vinegar; vegetable oil for deep-frying

Kisu no Karashi Miso Soé

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

An Ocean of Flavor

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1988

About

Parts of the American Midwest, particularly the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, are known for their spring smelt runs, and batter-frying seems to be the most common way to prepare the abundant catch. Here is a spicy new way to fix the tasty fish, one that the Japanese have been enjoying for centuries.

Ingredients

8 small smelts, about 10-12 ounces
1 teaspoon saké (Japanese rice wine)

Asia
Japan
Starter
Pescatarian

Method

Prepare the fish for frying: With the back of a knife, scrape off the scales. Remove the heads and trim off the dorsal (back) fins. Slit the belly cavities open to butterfly the fish, and remove the innards. With your fingers, carefully lift the backbones away from the flesh, cutting them off at the tails. Remove the small belly bones too, if you wish, though the Japanes