About the Recipe
The Japanese name for this dish is derived from the Ishikari river on Japan's northern island, Hokkaido. Legend has it that the river was abundant with salmon in the nineteenth century and in winter, locals would cut up their catch of salmon and boil it in a pan of miso. The dish hasn't changed that much since those days except that the modern version uses some butter to enrich the stew. If you have some kombu to hand, this will also give you a richer flavour. personally, I remove the kombu before I cook the veg but if you want to make the most of your umami flavours, leave the kombu in for longer. PS: This is a great dish to cook at the table if you have a table top gas cooker. Oh, anddon't discard the stock at the end of the meal - just pop it in the fridge and use it as a soup base for a noodle lunch the next after!
Ingredients
1/4 sweet pointed cabbage (100g)
1/2 onion (100g)
100g daikon
200g potato
150g tofu
70g shimeji mushrooms
(or shiitake or button mushroom)
10cm dried kelp
500ml water
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp cooking sake
50 - 60g miso
10 - 20g salted butter
*don’t throw away the leftover stock! just add cooked rice or udon, cook and enjoy a second helping or a lunch or supper next day.
Preparation
peel & slice the onion into 1 cm / 1/2 inch slices
remove the cabbage stalk and cut into 2cm / 1 inch slices
peel & thinly slice the daikon
(the thinner the daikon, the quicker it cooks)
rinse the shimeji mushrooms, remove the stem bottoms and separate them
peel & cut the potato into small chunks
halve the tofu and cut into 1 cm / 1/2 inch cubes
cut the salmon into bite sized pieces
put the water & kelp into a pan or casserole. bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes over a medium heat with the lid on (if you want a more subtle flavour, remove the kelp at this stage)
add the mirin, sake & miso and stir into the stock
add the onion, daikon, potato & cabbage, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on
add the mushrooms, tofu & salmon and cook for 7-10 minutes
with the lid on or until the daikon & potato are cooked through
add the butter and stir into the broth.
your salmon and miso hotpot is now ready to serve. eat with bowls of Japanese rice