I love carpaccio as much as I like sashimi. As long as the fish is fresh, I love to eat it raw: so good, and so Japanese. I love the simplicity of this authentic Italian recipe infused with Japanese flavours like ume (plum) dressing and layers of umami. We have very good kingfish in Australia, which makes this carpaccio a great dish if you want to impress your guests. It is simple, fresh and goes well with white wine or chilled sake. ~ Meg & Zenta Tanaka.
200 g sashimi-grade kingfish fillet or similar, such as yellowtail or snapper
5 g (1/3 cup) tororo kombu (shaved and fluffy kombu)*
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbs Ume (Plum) Dressing
1 Tbs snipped chives
Micro herbs, to garnish
Dashi Gelée:
1/2 tsp powdered gelatine
200 ml Dashi
1 tsp white soy sauce
*Tororo kombu is long, thin flakes of shaved kombu seaweed. It add lots of umami to this dish! Try to use the natural kind without any additives. If you cannot get tororo kombu, dashi or ume, you can make a simpler variation that's more like a classic Italian carpaccio. Just use yuzu juice and soy sauce in place of lemon juice and salt.
Dashi Gelée:
Dissolve the gelatine in 2 tablespoons water. In a saucepan, combine the dashi and the soy sauce and bring it to the boil. Add the gelatine mixture and stir until it has dissolved completely. Turn the heat off and pour the gelée into a shallow container. Once it has cooled down a bit, refrigerate the gelée for about 30 minutes, or until firm.
Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the kingfish into 5 mm (0.2 in) pieces. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
Arrange the tororo kombu on a flat serving plate, then arrange the kingfish slices on top. Lightly brush the fish with soy sauce.
Break the gelée up into crumbs with a fork and sprinkle over the fish, then pour the ume dressing evenly over the fish. Garnish with the chives and micro herbs.
Credits: This is an edited extract from Cibi by Meg & Zenta Tanaka published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $50.00 and is available in stores nationally from 1 April 2018.
Photo Credits: © Mark Roper.
