KO EN ES PT FR Japanese Side dish⏱ 50 minEdit history

Tsukudani (Kombu Simmered Down in Soy and Mirin)

Name: Tsukudani (Kombu Simmered Down in Soy and Mirin)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 100 g kombu left over from making dashi; 200 ml water; 4 tbsp soy sauce; 3 tbsp mirin; 1 tbsp sugar; 2 tbsp sake; 1 tsp white sesame seeds; 1 tsp sansho berries

A Japanese relish of kombu, small fish, shellfish or vegetables simmered in soy, mirin and sugar until the liquid is gone. The name comes from Tsukudajima in Edo, where fishermen boiled their catch down salty to eat on bad-weather days and at sea. This recipe uses the kombu left over from making dashi. A spoonful does a bowl of rice.

Ingredients

6servings

Steps

Cut the kombu into 2cm squares. Kombu left from making dashi goes in as it is (stocks and broth).
Put the kombu, water and sake in a small pan and simmer over low heat until the kombu tears when pressed between your fingers.
⏲ 15 min
Add the soy, mirin, sugar and sansho. Simmer uncovered over low heat until the liquid is almost gone.
⏲ 20 min
When only a little liquid is left in the bottom, turn the heat down further and keep stirring until it is glossy and the last of the liquid has clung on. This is when it catches most easily.
⏲ 5 min
Take it off the heat and stir in the sesame. Cool completely, pack into a sealed container and refrigerate (salt and seasoning).
Put a spoonful on top of rice, or use it as a filling for onigiri.

Variations

Chilli-leaf tsukudani. Chilli leaves simmered down in the same seasoning. The photograph on this page is this kind.
Butterbur stalks (kyarabuki). Simmered until a deep brown.
Shigureni. Clams simmered down with ginger. Small fish, as on Tsukudajima, are done the same way.
Inago. Inland, in the Ina valley in Nagano and in Gunma, far from the sea, grasshoppers were simmered down instead.

Tips

Leave the lid off. The point is to boil the liquid away.
Turn the heat down and stir for the last few minutes. The sugar catches on the bottom.
It turns jelly-like when cold. Serve it straight from the fridge.
One to two weeks in the fridge. Today's milder tsukudani does not keep as long as the old salty kind.

More detail and the reasons why (2)

The kombu lifted out of the stock becomes the dish. Stocks and broth has you take the kombu out before the water boils. That kombu still has body to chew, and tsukudani turns what would be thrown away into a side dish. Japanese even has a phrase, "enough to make tsukudani of", for having more of something than you can use: it began as a way to keep what was left over.
Salty and dry. On Tsukudajima it was made salty enough not to spoil, so it would keep. Boiling the liquid all the way off is part of the same idea, and it is why it is eaten a little at a time, with rice.