5 Ingredients or Fewer

Steamed Salmon with Mirin

February 23, 2013
4
1 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This is a simple recipe that I use when I need a quick meal. It goes great with fresh steamed short-grain rice (sushi rice), bok choy, and sweet Thai chili sauce. To steam the salmon, I use a two-tiered Chinese bamboo steamer over a stock pot. There's a lot of experimenting and eye-balling in this recipe, but once you get it right, it's the perfect way to bring out the natural flavor of the salmon. —Meira Kitani

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 pound Salmon fillet
  • Mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine)
  • Salt
  • Two-tiered Bamboo Steamer
Directions
  1. Wash the salmon fillet and pat dry. Cut the salmon fillet widthwise, so that each cut of salmon has a thin end and a thick end. Remove any bones or scales remaining.
  2. Cover the bottom of the steamers with baking paper and place the slices of salmon on them, skin side down. Preferably, put the thinner slices on the top tier and the thicker slices on the bottom tier.
  3. Brush the salmon with generous amounts of the mirin.
  4. Lightly salt the slices of salmon.
  5. Fill a stock pot to about a third of its volume in water. Bring to a high boil.
  6. Place the steamers on top of the boiling water. Steam the salmon for about 7 minutes on medium high heat (no lower or else the salmon won't cook)
  7. Take the salmon fillets off the stock pot. With cooking chopsticks, flip them over, skin side up, and baste them with more mirin and salt.
  8. Cook for another 7 minutes over medium high heat. If the salmon on the top layer looks undercooked, switch it with the bottom layer.
  9. Serve hot with rice, bok choy and thai sweet chili sauce.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames
  • Meira Kitani
    Meira Kitani

2 Reviews

AntoniaJames February 25, 2013
Will have to try this! I am using my bamboo steamer more and more these days, but I have never used it for fish. Your recipe sounds so appealing. And straightforward and unfussy. Thanks for posting it! ;o)
 
Meira K. February 26, 2013
Thanks! Happy cooking to you :)