Karei no Nitsuke (Simmered Flounder)

Name: Karei no Nitsuke (Simmered Flounder)
Total time: 25 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: Flounder fillets 2 fillets; Ginger 1 knob (about the size of your thumb tip); Water About 650 ml (500 ml for blanching, 150 ml for the sauce); Sake (Japanese rice wine) 4 tbsp; Mirin (sweet rice seasoning) 3 tbsp; Sugar 1 tbsp; Soy sauce 3 tbsp

🥗 Lighter 💪 If you exercise

Serves 2 · About 25 min
Flounder fillets simmered briefly in a sweet and salty sauce of soy sauce, sake and mirin. The fish stays soft and moist.

① Prepare the flounder→② Boil the broth→③ Simmer the flounder→④ Arrange on a plate

What to buy

Fish

Flounder filletsFlounder with roe is OK too2 fillets

Vegetables

Ginger1 knob (about the size of your thumb tip)

Check what you already have

WaterAbout 650 ml (500 ml for blanching, 150 ml for the sauce)Sake (Japanese rice wine)4 tbspMirin (sweet rice seasoning)3 tbspSugar1 tbspSoy sauce3 tbsp

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How to make it

Prepare the flounder

About 5 min

Put the flounder on a cutting board with the dark skin facing up, and cut an X into the skin with a knife (this stops the fish from curling and the skin from tearing)
Boil water (about 500 ml) in a kettle or pot
Put the flounder in a bowl and pour the boiling water all over it. Right away, change it to cold water to cool
Rub the surface with your fingers to remove slime and scales, then pat dry with paper towels
Cut the ginger, skin on, into thin slices (5–6 slices)

How to tell it's doneThe surface of the flounder has turned whitish and is not slimy.

Be carefulWhen using boiling water, put the bowl in the sink so it doesn't get on your hands.

Boil the broth

Medium heatAbout 2 min

Use a frying pan or shallow pot big enough to lay the flounder side by side without overlapping
Add 150 ml water, 4 tbsp sake, 3 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp soy sauce and the ginger, and put over medium heat

How to tell it's doneThe sauce is bubbling and boiling at the edges.

Be carefulIf you put the flounder into cold sauce, it tends to smell fishy. Always add it after the sauce boils.

Simmer the flounder

Medium → Medium-low heatAbout 10 min

When it boils, lay in the flounder with the dark skin facing up
Scoop up the sauce with a spoon and pour it over the top several times
Cut foil into a circle and put it directly on top of the flounder (a drop lid). Simmer about 10 min on medium-low heat
Lift the foil 1–2 times partway through and pour sauce over the top

How to tell it's donePoke chopsticks into the thickest part of the fish (near the bone): it is white all the way to the bone, with no see-through parts. The sauce is a little thick.

Be carefulFlounder falls apart easily, so do not turn it over. Just pouring the sauce over the top cooks it through.

Be carefulIf the sauce is almost gone, add 2 tbsp water.

Arrange on a plate

Heat offAbout 2 min

Turn off the heat, slide a spatula under the flounder, gently lift it and move it to a plate
Pour the sauce and ginger left in the pan over the top

ReadyThe skin is browned and the fish is soft and plump.

📚 Learn more about this dish

🥬 Ingredient guide

Mirin Shoga (ginger)Shoyu (soy sauce)

🔪 Cutting & cooking tips

Boiling Heat levels (high, medium, low)Otoshibuta (drop lid)

If it didn't work out

The fish fell apartYou turned it over in step 3, or simmered it on strong heat so it bubbled hard. Next time, use medium-low heat and do not move it.

It smells fishyYou did not pour boiling water over it in step 1, or you added it before the sauce boiled in step 2.

The skin toreThe X cut in step 1 was too shallow. Next time, cut the X firmly into the skin.

The flavor is weakYou did not pour the sauce over it enough times. After putting it on the plate, pour plenty of sauce over it.

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