Grilled Japanese fresh water eel (unagi) with rice has always been one my favourite dishes to order whenever I went to a Japanese restaurant. Did you know that it’s actually super easy to prepare at home too given that unagi is usually sold pre-grilled and vacuum sealed?
I was SO happy to find some in my local Japanese supermarket. Decided to go all out and make some agedashi tofu and Japanese rolled omelette with it as well. It was sooo satisfying! Sharing with you how I prepared this dish below.
Unagi rice bowl (Unagi donburi)
Ingredients
- 1 x Unagi Kabayaki marinated grilled eel fillet
- 1 x bowl of cooked short grain sushi rice
Unagi sauce:
- 4 tbsp Soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Sake
- 2 tbsp Sugar
Instructions
- Cook your sushi rice using your preferred method – I usually just use my rice cooker and added about 1cm water above the rice grain level.
- Make the unagi sauce: in a pot mix together the mirin, sake and sugar then bring it to the boil.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, gradually add the soy sauce and mix until it’s well blended.
- Reduce to low heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until it thickens. The sauce will bubble up intermittently. If it becomes too thick, add a tiny bit of water to loosen it up. It should have a slightly syrupy texture. Once done, put aside to cool down.
- Preheat the oven on BROILER mode (oven heat from above) at 200 degrees and line a baking tray with some foil.
- Unagi fillets are usually sold in a long piece, I’d recommend cutting it in half (as pictured) so that it can easily fit your bowl. Place the unagi filets on the baking tray in the oven for about 5-6 minutes
- Take the fillets out and brush some of the unagi sauce that you have prepared on top then return to the oven for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce starts bubbling up (be careful to not leave in the oven for too long otherwise it will burn because of the high sugar content)
- Assemble: in a bowl, add the cooked rice, brush it with some remaining sauce and then lay the fillet on top.
- Optional: I like to add some garnishes such a sesame seeds and nori flakes on top.
- If you have leftover sauce, you can just save it in a sealed container in the fridge until next use.
Did you make this recipe?
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