Saba Soboro (Flaked Mackerel with Vegetables)

Hello the internet! Jessica here, signing in from frozen Hokkaido! I recently ordered a Japanese cookbook written in English- Everyday Harumi. Because it is a copyrighted book, I don`t plan on sharing many recipes from it, but I do want to share what I make, how I liked it, and even provide an alternative recipe from the depths of the internet. However, I have really enjoyed this book so far, and already have many recipes I`m planning to try.

And so, without ado:

Saba Soboro or  Flaked Mackerel with Vegetables

I am sort of picky about fish. Maybe it is because I grew up eating freshly caught trout and Salmon my dad brought back from Alaska. Even being in Japan, where fish are prized for being fresh, I am still a little nervous to try cooking with fish (part of this may be because I doubt I know how to cook it correctly). That being said, Saba Soboro was not my favorite dish, but it was still fairly tasty. To me, the flavor was a little shallow. I felt like it was lacking something, but I don`t know what.

It was tasty though-- using onions, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms, the flaked fish, and ginger, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and miso sauce for flavoring. It was a simple recipe, although deboning and skinning the fish was a time-consuming, frustrating process for me. It also takes time to peel/dice the vegetables, but all-in-all straight forward.

Here is a recipe for Saba Soboro from Cookpad:

こんなランチの日もいいです♪。そぼろに残り野菜を加えてもOK。簡単で、3、4日冷蔵庫でストックも可能♪娘ちゃん大好物    

You can also use this for lunches, and use other vegetables (whatever you have left in your refrigerator). Can store in the fridge for 3-4 days. Her daughter loves this recipe.

材料（4人分 ） Serves 4

さば（3枚におろす） 3 pieces of mackerel; one tail

1尾

鶏ﾐﾝﾁ

100ｇ

 100g minced chicken (My recipe did not call for chicken)

干ししいたけ

3個

 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (can also use fresh; I used about 6 fresh ones)

青ねぎ

1本

 1 green onion

酒

大さじ2+1

 2 + 1 tablespoons of sake

A：醤油

大さじ3

 3 Tbsp Soy sauce

A：砂糖

大さじ3

 3 Tbsp sugar

A:干ししいたけの戻し汁

大さじ3

 3 tbsp soaking liquid for dried Shiitake (omit if using fresh)

A:生姜（すりおろし・みじん切りOK)

ひとかけら（大さじ1）

 1 Tbsp chopped or grated ginger

A：塩

ひとつまみ

 Pinch of salt

A：味噌

小さじ1

 1 tsp miso

1

ビニ-ル袋に3枚におろしたサバと大さじ2のお酒、ネギを入れて1時間程おいておく。我が家は前日の夜からしてます。

Put the mackerel, 2 Tbsp sake, and green onions in a bag. Marinate for 1 hour. I think the last sentence says you can put in it overnight?

2

鶏ﾐﾝﾁもお酒大さじ1と一緒入れサバと同じくらいの時間おいておく。この1.2の下準備で臭みやパサパサ感をなくします。

Put the minced chicken and 1 Tbsp of sake into a bag and marinate for the same amount of time as the mackerel. This helps eliminate odors and helps it flake more.

3

干ししいたけはかぶるくらいの少ない水でもどしておきます。（こちらも前日からやっておくと便利）

Reconstitute the shiitake mushrooms (you can also do this the night before)

4

袋からサバのみ取り出してスプ-ンなどでぼろぼろっと、身をとります。中心部の骨のあたりはそのまま残すと綺麗に身だけとれます

Take the mackerel out of the bag and remove the flesh from the skin. (The picture here suggests you do this with a spoon, as did my book. But I think I did it wrong. Anyway, GOOD LUCK TO YOU HERE). To avoid bones, it looks like they are saying to scrape the flesh on either side of the bones in the center? In any case, you don`t want bones.

5

こうやって全体の身をとったら、サバの身と軽く水気をきった鶏ﾐﾝﾁをボ-ルかタッパにいれます。全体で約300ｇでした

Uhm. I think this is saying that all together you should have about 300 grams of mackerel and chicken?

6

5にAの調味量を全て入れお箸などでぐるぐるまぜます。練ってはいけません！これポイント！混ぜた状態で5分ほどおいたら・・

Mix seasoning (soy sauce, miso, etc) with the chicken and fish. (I think)

7

フライパンに6とみじんぎりにした干ししいたけを入れ弱火~中火でお箸でまぜながら、身をほぐしながら丁寧にそぼろ状にしていく

Cook the fish and vegetables in a frying pan. Yum yum yum

8

全体の水けがなくなってきたら火を止めてできあがり♪今回は干ししいたけと一緒に残り野菜の人参を入れてます

They also added carrots and stuff.

コツ・ポイント

POINT TIP

サバは臭みがあります。それをとるにはしっかりお酒に漬けこんでおくことと、生姜や味噌がポイントになります♪こうするとサバの臭みが随分消えてとっても美味しいサバそぼろができますよ。色々な残り野菜をみじん切りにして加えてもOK。

Mackerel is smelly. That is why she marinates it in sake. Also, you can add other vegetables to make it nummy numsters.

OKAY. So I got into some really hardcore paraphrasing at the end. Or maybe from the middle. ANYWAY. Hope that helps.

Harumi`s recipe has a slightly different order. Instead of mixing the seasonings with the meat, she heats a little oil in the fry-pan and adds the ginger and fish. Once the fish starts to brown, she adds in the vegetables. Then she adds the sauce/seasoning mix and cooks that until the liquid is absorbed.

My mackerel was a little smelly. Next time I use it I will try marinating it in sake.

And of course, serve with fresh rice. Yum!