Salmon and Roe Rice (はらこ飯, Harako-meshi)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker or heavy pot with tight lid
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Shallow simmering pan
• •Rice paddle (shamoji), or a broad wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Wash the rice in several changes of cold water, rubbing lightly with your hand until the water runs almost clear. Drain it in a sieve for 20 minutes. This lets the grains take in moisture evenly later, so they cook firm and separate instead of chalky at the center.

2. 2

   Salt the salmon

   Sprinkle the salmon lightly with the sea salt and leave it for 10 minutes, then pat it dry. The salt draws out surface moisture and any blunt smell, which keeps the broth clean. Cut the salmon into pieces about two inches wide, large enough to stay tender while they simmer.

3. 3

   Season the broth

   In a shallow pot, combine the dashi, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and ginger. Bring it just to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Taste it now. It should be a little stronger than a soup, because the rice will soften the seasoning as it cooks.

4. 4

   Poach the salmon

   Lower the salmon into the seasoned dashi and simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until the surface has turned pale and the center is just cooked. Do not boil hard. A hard boil breaks the fish and roughens the stock, and this stock is about to become the rice's seasoning.

   Lift the salmon out while it is still moist. It will sit on hot rice later, so a little gentleness now keeps it from drying twice.
5. 5

   Strain the stock

   Lift the salmon to a plate and strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve. Pick out the ginger if you like a cleaner bowl, or keep a few slices for serving. Measure the strained liquid and add dashi if needed to make the amount your rice cooker requires for 2 cups of rice, usually about 360ml.

6. 6

   Cook the rice

   Put the drained rice in a rice cooker or heavy pot and add the measured salmon stock. Cook as you would plain rice. The grains should come out glossy and lightly soy-colored, with the salmon's flavor carried all the way through rather than sitting on top like a sauce.

7. 7

   Rest and loosen

   When the rice is done, let it rest covered for 10 minutes. Resting finishes the steaming inside the grains and keeps them from breaking when you loosen them. Fold the rice gently from the sides toward the center with a rice paddle, cutting through rather than mashing.

8. 8

   Finish the bowl

   Flake the poached salmon into large pieces, leaving some shape to them, and lay them over the rice. Spoon the ikura over the top only after the rice has stopped its fiercest heat. Finish with mitsuba or a thin strip of yuzu peel if using. Serve in restrained bowls, with room around the mound so the orange roe catches the light.

Chef Tips

• •Buy salmon in autumn if you can, when the dish is in shun. Ask for fresh chum salmon if available, or good wild salmon with clean smell and firm flesh. If the fish smells tired, change the dish. Nothing hidden.
• •Use soy-marinated ikura from a trusted fishmonger, kept cold until the last moment. Roe should look clear, round, and glossy, not dull or collapsed.
• •Don't pour raw roe into hot stock unless you want it firm and opaque. Harako-meshi depends on the contrast: warm salmon rice below, cool bright roe above.
• •A rice cooker is perfectly honorable here. The honmono part is not the pot, it's cooking the rice in the salmon stock you made yourself.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made up to two days ahead and kept refrigerated.
• •The salmon can be poached and the stock strained a few hours ahead. Keep both refrigerated, then cook the rice close to serving.
• •Add the ikura only at serving time. It keeps its gloss and texture best when it stays cold until the bowl is assembled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)