Recipes

Seafood × Koji

Tai Chazuke: Sea Bream Marinated in Shoyu Koji

Sashimi-grade sea bream marinated in shoyu koji and ground sesame, laid on rice and finished with hot dashi or tea. Shoyu koji gives a rounder, softer flavour than soy sauce alone.

Serves
Serves 2
Time
About 15 minutes (plus marinating)
Marinated sea bream on rice with shredded nori and shiso, next to a teapot of dashi

Ingredients

Marinated sea bream

  • Sea bream, sashimi grade150 g
  • Shoyu koji1 1/2 tbsp
  • White sesame seeds, ground1 tbsp

Dashi

  • Dashi (flying fish, or bonito and kombu)400 ml
  • Salta pinch
  • Soy saucea dash

To serve

  • Warm cooked rice2 bowls
  • Shiso leaves4
  • Shredded norias you like
  • Toasted white sesame seedsas you like
  • Arare (small rice crackers)as you like
  • Wasabito taste

Method

  1. Cut the sea bream into thin slices on the diagonal.
  2. Mix the shoyu koji and ground sesame in a bowl, add the fish and coat well. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Warm the dashi in a small pan and season with salt and soy sauce so it tastes like a light clear soup.
  4. Cut the shiso into fine strips.
  5. Put the rice in bowls and lay the fish on top. Add the shiso, nori, sesame seeds and arare, with wasabi on the side.
  6. Pour over the hot dashi and eat. Hot green tea or hojicha works instead of dashi.

Tips

  • Shoyu koji is soy sauce fermented with rice koji. It is milder than soy sauce, with the umami and sweetness of koji. Find it at Japanese grocery stores or online, or make your own.
  • No shoyu koji? Marinate in 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1/2 tbsp mirin instead.
  • Thirty minutes of marinating is enough, but overnight is good too. If you marinate overnight, eat it the next day.
  • Eat a few bites of the fish on rice first, then pour over the hot dashi to enjoy it two ways.
  • Marinate leftover sashimi this way and you have tomorrow's lunch.

Ochazuke — rice with hot tea or dashi poured over — is a simple Japanese comfort meal. This is a lunch Chie makes with sea bream left to marinate, now in shoyu koji instead of soy sauce: the koji umami brings out the sweetness of the fish.

See how to make it in Shoyu Koji, or make koji seasonings by hand in UMAMI & KOJI LAB in Tokyo.

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