Chef Takumi
Chikin Raisu (チキンライス, ketchup chicken rice)
This is the ketchup rice under omurice, but it stands on its own: chicken, onion, butter, and rice cooked until every grain is red-gold and separate.
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Tarako Spaghetti (たらこスパゲッティ, cod-roe pasta)
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Tarako spaghetti is weeknight yōshoku at its best: salted cod roe, butter, soy, hot pasta, and the discipline to take the pan off the heat.
Main Dishes
Japanese
Weeknight
Quick Meal
10 min
Active Time
10 min cook•20 min total
Yield2 servings
The roe decides everything here. Tarako is already salted, already vivid, already carrying the clean taste of the sea. Treat it roughly and it turns tight and grainy. Treat it gently and it coats the spaghetti in a pale pink gloss, rich with butter and sharp at the edges with soy.
This is yōshoku, Japanese food that learned from the Western plate and then became its own honest thing. Don't make it grand. There is no heavy sauce to build, no long simmer, no cleverness hiding in the corner. We mash the roe with softened butter, loosen it with a little pasta water, and toss the hot spaghetti off the heat. The pasta warms the roe enough. The stove would overdo it.
The first secret is restraint. Use good tarako, cook the noodles firmly, and save the water before you drain them. That starchy water is what lets butter, roe, and soy cling to each strand instead of sitting in a salty lump at the bottom of the bowl. Finish with nori cut into fine strips, and leave it room. A quick meal can still sit politely at the table.
Tarako spaghetti belongs to the postwar growth of wafū pasta, Japanese-style pasta, when restaurants and home cooks began pairing spaghetti with ingredients already familiar to the Japanese table. Tokyo's Kabe no Ana, opened in Shibuya in 1953, is often credited with helping popularize cod-roe pasta in the 1960s after customers asked for a Japanese answer to roe-dressed pasta. The dish spread because it suited the home kitchen: fast, salty, buttery, and built from supermarket tarako rather than restaurant ceremony.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
spaghetti
Quantity
200g
tarako (salted cod roe)
Quantity
2 sacs (about 70g)
membranes removed
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons
softened
soy sauce
Quantity
1 teaspoon
sake (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
reserved pasta water
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus more as needed
nori
Quantity
1 sheet
cut into fine strips
shiso (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
thinly sliced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| spaghetti | 200g |
| tarako (salted cod roe)membranes removed | 2 sacs (about 70g) |
| unsalted buttersoftened | 3 tablespoons |
| soy sauce | 1 teaspoon |
| sake (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| reserved pasta water | 1/4 cup, plus more as needed |
| noricut into fine strips | 1 sheet |
| shiso (optional)thinly sliced | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Large pot
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Tongs
- •Small sharp knife
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the roe
Split each tarako sac lengthwise and scrape out the tiny eggs with the back of a knife. Leave the membrane behind. The membrane turns chewy in the sauce, while the eggs themselves melt into the butter and cling to the spaghetti.
- 2
Make the sauce
In a large mixing bowl, mash the tarako with the softened butter, soy sauce, and sake if using. Use a bowl, not a hot pan. Tarako needs warmth, not cooking, and direct heat makes it tighten into sandy little grains.
If your tarako is very salty, start with half the soy sauce and add the rest after tasting. The roe is already doing much of the seasoning. - 3
Boil the spaghetti
Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water until firm, usually one minute less than the package says. Before draining, scoop out at least 1/2 cup of the cooking water. The starch in that water helps the butter and roe coat the noodles evenly.
- 4
Toss off heat
Add the hot drained spaghetti to the bowl of tarako butter and toss quickly with tongs. Add reserved pasta water a spoonful at a time until the sauce turns glossy and loose enough to coat every strand. The heat of the pasta is enough to soften the butter and wake the roe without cooking it.
- 5
Finish and serve
Taste and adjust with a few drops of soy if needed. Twist the spaghetti into two shallow plates, scatter the nori in fine strips over the top, and add shiso if you like its clean green edge. Serve at once, before the butter cools and the sauce tightens.
Chef Tips
- •Buy tarako that looks plump and moist, with a clear pink color and no strong smell. If it smells tired, change the dish. Nothing hidden.
- •Mentaiko, chili-seasoned cod roe, makes a related dish but not the same one. Use it when you want mentaiko spaghetti, and call it that plainly.
- •Take the bowl to the pasta, not the pasta to a hot skillet. The one detail that decides this dish is keeping the roe soft.
Advance Preparation
- •The tarako can be scraped from its membrane and refrigerated, covered, for up to one day.
- •Cut the nori just before serving if you can. Once sliced, it loses its crispness quickly in a humid kitchen.
- •This dish does not hold well. Cook the spaghetti just before eating and toss it while fully hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 340g)
Calories
590 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
175 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
76 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
22 g
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