Mackerel are so plentiful in Summer we need a variety of recipes to ring the changes. Here is one from Japan, where they use a local variety of mackerel. It works well with ours. You can go all Japanesey and serve this as a traditional rice bowl meal. Whether you use Japanese ingredients or substitute with similar Chinese equivalents depends on how authentic you want it to be. Either will be good. If some of your party don’t like mackerel, you can make exactly the same recipe using sliced chicken breast (marinate them separately though!)

For four (and you can do this just for yourself by dividing the quantities) you will need:

  • 8 fillets of very fresh Solent mackerel
  • Marinade ingredients:
    • 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, Japanese or Chinese
    • 3 tablespoons mirin rice wine (or Chinese)
    • 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil or standard sesame oil.
    • 1 garlic clove
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

To serve you will need:

  • 350g sushi rice (or long grain)
  • 4 spring onions sliced
  • 200g soya beans (or peas or bread beans)
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Mix together the marinade ingredients. Put the fillets in the marinade and leave to marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until they are light brown.

Cook the rice and beans/peas according to the packet instructions.

Now grill the mackerel fillets, skin up for 3 minutes, turn over, and grill for 3 minutes more. Mix the cooked rice with the peas/beans and divide among four bowls. Put the cooked fillets on the rice, and top with the spring onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

You can serve with a Japanese dipping sauce. wasabi or more soy sauce.