Iwashi Kabayaki (Sardines in Sweet Soy Glaze)

Name: Iwashi Kabayaki (Sardines in Sweet Soy Glaze)
Total time: 20 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: Sardines (butterflied) 4 fish; Potato starch (katakuriko) 2 tbsp; Vegetable oil 1 tbsp; Soy sauce 2 tbsp; Mirin (sweet rice seasoning) 2 tbsp; Sugar 1 tbsp; Sake (Japanese rice wine) 1 tbsp; Paper towels 4–5 sheets

💪 If you exercise

Serves 2 · About 20 min
Butterflied sardines coated in potato starch, pan-fried and coated with a sweet and savory sauce. Also good on top of rice.

① Pat dry→② Coat with potato starch→③ Cook both sides→④ Coat with the sauce

What to buy

Fish

Sardines (butterflied)If you cannot find butterflied ones, ask the staff at the fish counter if they can butterfly them for you4 fish

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How to make it

Mix the sauce ahead

About 2 min

In a small bowl, put 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp sake
Stir with a spoon to dissolve the sugar

How to tell it's doneWhen you run a spoon along the bottom, there is no gritty sugar.

Pat the sardines dry and coat with potato starch

About 3 min

Sandwich the sardines between paper towels and press from above to soak up the water on both sides
Spread 2 tbsp potato starch in a tray and coat both sides of the sardines thinly
Lightly pat off extra starch with your hand
Wash your hands with soap after touching the raw sardines, before moving on

How to tell it's doneBoth sides of the sardines are white, with no clumps of starch.

Fry the flesh side first

Medium heatAbout 2 min

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat
Lay the sardines in flesh side (the side without skin) down
Fry about 2 minutes without moving them

How to tell it's doneThe bottom is golden brown and crispy when you lift it.

Be carefulFish coated in starch makes the oil splatter easily. Keep your face away.

Flip and fry the skin side too

Medium heatAbout 2 min

Flip with a spatula and fry the skin side about 2 minutes
Turn off the heat and wipe out the oil left in the pan with a paper towel (the pan is hot, so hold the paper with cooking chopsticks)

How to tell it's doneThe skin side is browned too, and when you press the thickest part with chopsticks, it is white all the way through and flakes apart.

Coat with the sauce

Medium-low heatAbout 1–2 min

Turn the heat back on (medium-low heat) and add all of the sauce from step 1
Shake the pan and spoon the sauce over the sardines to coat them

ReadyThe sauce bubbles up in big bubbles and thickens, and the sardines have a glossy brown coat. Put them on a plate right away.

Be carefulIf you simmer long after adding the sauce, it burns and tastes bitter. Stop after 1–2 minutes.

📚 Learn more about this dish

🥬 Ingredient guide

Katakuriko (potato starch)Mirin Shoyu (soy sauce)

🔪 Cutting & cooking tips

Heat levels (high, medium, low)

If it didn't work out

The coating is gummyThey were not patted dry enough in step 2. Press firmly with paper towels before coating.

The sauce burnedThe heat was too high or too long after adding the sauce. Use medium-low heat for 1–2 minutes.

The fish fell apartYou moved them before they browned. Wait the 2 minutes in step 3 without touching.

The flavor is weakIf you do not wipe out the oil in step 4, the sauce does not coat well. Wipe out the oil, then add the sauce.

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Made by YUU, a teen who loves cooking → About me