Unagi gohan – grilled eel with rice
Endo Kazutoshi shares his recipe for unagi gohan, a Japanese dish of grilled eel served on rice. The eel is brushed with a quick glaze of sake, soy sauce and sugar before cooking over coals – Endo uses a Japanese konro grill, but you can use a regular barbecue or even a griddle pan.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 1kg eel, filleted and cut into 8 equal pieces
- 4 tsp sugar, Endo uses Japanese johakuto sugar but you could use caster sugar as a substitute
- 4 tsp sake, (sweet)
- 4 tsp sake, (dry)
- 4 tsp light soy sauce
To serve
- 800g of Japanese short grain rice, cooked
- kimone leaves
- sansho peppercorns
Equipment
- Steamer
- Metal skewers
- Barbecue
Method
Light a barbecue – ideally a Japanese konro grill – and set up a large steamer. Place 3 metal skewers on a board one finger width apart from each other. Thread a piece of eel onto these skewers, then repeat with the remaining pieces of eel (if you don’t have enough skewers, you can thread multiple pieces of eel onto a single set of skewers, or work in batches)
- 1kg eel, filleted and cut into 8 equal pieces
Place the skewers over the grill and cook the eel until the flesh turns white and the skin blackens
Transfer the eel to the steamer (still on the skewers) and steam for 15 minutes
Meanwhile, make the unagi sauce by mixing the sakes with soy sauce and sugar together in a pan and gently warming it through until the sugar dissolves
- 4 tsp sake, (sweet)
- 4 tsp sake, (dry)
- 4 tsp light soy sauce
- 4 tsp sugar, Endo uses Japanese johakuto sugar but you could use caster sugar as a substitute
After 15 minutes, remove the eel from the steamer and dip each piece into the unagi sauce. Place the eel back over the grill and cook for 10-15 more minutes, regularly brushing the fish with more of the sauce to glaze
Serve the eel on a bed of cooked rice, brushed once again with the sauce. Finish with kimone leaves and sansho peppercorns
- 800g of Japanese short grain rice, cooked
- kimone leaves
- sanasho peppercorns
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