Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Sure Thing: Korean Sauce for Fish

Sonny D is Korean and loves fish a lot.  Typically it's if I make fish, he's guaranteed to eat it.  I decided to make it a for-sure thing by making a Korean sauce to go on top.

Inspiration


Aeri's Kitchen Tilapia with a Korean Style Sauce

The original recipe called for pan frying the fish, but broiled mine instead.  I'm sure pan-frying would have been delicious, but I wanted it to be healthier.  I also didn't have tilapia but instead used swai, a similar white fish.  I doubled the sauce recipe since I wasn't sure how much sauce it would really make, the only thing I didn't double was the hot pepper powder and the sugar. 

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Water
  • 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
  • 1 tsp Hot Pepper Powder (Korean gochut garu, not the same as anything in America, barely spicy)
  • 2 tsp Garlic, Minced
  • 1 tsp Sesame Oil
  • 2 Pinches Sugar

Directions

My fish was not completely defrosted, so I broiled it for an extra minute per side.  I ended up broiling it for 4 minutes and then flipped, 4 minutes and flipped again, then 3 minutes.  I checked and the fish flaked, so it was done.  I added sauce on top and spread it around with a knife.  

This covered 3 fish filets plus there was extra so we drizzled it on our rice and edamame.  

Verdict

Balanced -- and popular!  Ensures dinner gets eaten.

This sauce was a total hit with our family.  Sonny D totally loved it and wanted a third helping of fish.  I made only three filets (one per person) but now I know for the future that I need to make at least four, if not the whole package of five.

It was so simple to whip up while the rest of the meal cooked.  I liked how it was everything I already had in the cupboard.  I really appreciate the balance of the recipe -- it's salty, sweet, oily, savory, but nicely balanced so nothing overwhelms.  I will definitely make this again because it's so easy to pull together.  I thought it would go nicely with shrimp as well, maybe as a marinade and then cook it with the shrimp to make a sauce. 

I was afraid of how hot the hot pepper powder might be since I've only cooked with it a couple times, but I had no reason to worry, it's so mild that I could have doubled it like I did the rest of the ingredients.

Wanna Chat?

I turned off the 'leave a comment' feature, so if you want to share what you're thinking about this or anything else, drop me an email at jhk1013 (at) gmail.com. It's so much more cozy than a comment, plus we can have a real conversation!