It’s still May, but it already feels like summer in Tokyo.
Hot temperature calls for summer food, for me it’s season of horse mackerel (aji)!
Great thing about seasonal food is that it costs less at their best taste.
Ever since I got back from Scotland, I can’t stop calculating how much it will cost in GBP, and this beautiful aji here is less than a pound!! I forgot to weigh this lovely fish but this one was big enough to serve 2.
This aji came from Niigata prefecture, which is on the coast of Japan sea. Aji can be caught almost anywhere around Japan, but I think aji from Saga prefecture (Seki gulf) are the most famous for their quality and taste (called Seki aji).
Aji is said to have got its name for its great taste (taste = aji in Japanese). Aji tastes great both raw and cooked. My favorite cooked aji plate is fried aji (aji fry, this menu has been always popular, but especially popular recently). But whenever I get access to fresh aji, I prefer raw dishes.
I wanted to go for sashimi, but my husband said he wants “namero” so I did half and half.
One whole aji was prepared into 2 halves and bones (bone part is already gone in the photo). This is called “sammai-oroshi”, meaning separated into 3 pieces (2 halves and 1part which only has non-edible stuff like bones and a tail).
You can look for tutorials in YouTube, but if you buy your fish in fairly large supermarkets, you’ll find 鮮魚コーナー(sengyo corner) and staff will prepare your fish for you! You can request how you want to have your fish like you want it sashimi, for frying, shimmering, and so on. You can also ask like you want it in form, like sammai-oroshi, do you want to have the head part or not (they become wonderful soup stock, especially snappers), do you just want the scales off, do you want all the gut out, or do you want them cut into pieces so you don’t have to mess with fish in kitchen.
I bought this aji in a small (but nice) supermarket and it didn’t have 鮮魚コーナー. I watched YouTube video couple of years ago, and now I can complete sammai-oroshi in 15 minutes!
First up, sashimi. Just sliced one half of aji into pieces, but voilà! Lovely sashimi!!
“Namero” comes from fishermen. It is said that fishermen ate namero on boats right after catching, so it’s easy.
You can add anything, but my personal favorite is shiso. This time, minced ginger and ground sesame took part too.
Making namero is super easy. Chop everything including sashimi aji. Add some (I’d say one tea spoon) of miso. Mix everything on your chopping board using your knife (some additional chops can come along). I think the most tiresome part is preparing your aji, so when its done, you are like 80% done.
Green (shiso) looks great and they add subtle flavor. My advice is to leave some chunk of fish before mixing. I like to have both big and small chunks in my namero. You can add more miso or some soy sauce as you like. Be sure to prepare lots of rice, you need them with this salty menu.
If you are in Japan during the hot season, try aji (horse mackerel)!
