Shio Koji Salmon
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets
- 30 g shio koji
Adjust the amount to approximately 10% of the salmon weight. Homemade or store-bought. Make shio koji at home, or check my Where to Buy guide for Japanese grocery stores.
Instructions
- 1
Spread the shio koji over both sides of the salmon. Cover and marinate in the fridge for about 1 hour.
- 2
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the salmon on top. There is no need to wipe off the shio koji before baking. It adds gentle sweetness and helps the surface brown. Bake until the salmon is cooked through, checking it occasionally. If the skin side is becoming too dark, turn the salmon onto one side and continue baking. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely cover the salmon with aluminium foil.
- 3
Serve warm with a bowl of Japanese rice, miso soup and a simple vegetable side, if you like.
Tomoka's Note
For this recipe, I used New Zealand salmon from my local fishmonger and cut the fillet into pieces about 3 cm thick. It turned out beautifully tender, and the gentle sweetness from the shio koji worked well with the richness of the salmon. You can use the same method with firm white fish, such as cod. When measuring the shio koji, I find it handy to remember this simple guide: use an amount equal to about 10% of the meat or fish's weight. At Japanese grocery stores, you can also find ready-made shio koji in easy-to-use pouches like this. It is handy to keep one on hand for when I run out of my homemade shio koji.
