Hojicha smoked venison sashimi and kabocha kinpira
This dish from Koya's Shuko Oda uses rice and hojicha-infused smoke to flavour her lightly seared venison sashimi. The venison is served alongside pickled kumquats, a quick carrot and kabocha kinpira and a homemade tingly sansho pepper salt. The sauce for the kinpira is made with Mizkan Honteri, a mirin-style seasoning, which makes a great low alcohol replacement for mirin. This recipe makes more brine than you will need, but any leftovers can be used to pickle other vegetables such as carrots and radishes or even fruit such as pears.
Ingredients
Pickled Kumquats
- 5g of dried kombu
- 100ml of water
- 220g of rice vinegar
- 75g of cane sugar
- 15g of salt
- 5g of soy sauce
- 70g of kumquats, thinly sliced and deseeded
Kinpira
- 145g of Mizkan Honteri
- 30g of sake
- 36g of soy sauce
- 12g of toasted sesame oil
- 100g of kabocha , julienned
- 80g of carrots , julienned
Sansho salt
- 1/2 tbsp of sansho pepper, or use Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
Smoked venison
- 150g of venison haunch
- 12g of unroasted sesame oil
- 1 pinch of sea salt
- 12g of hojicha tea
- 30g of rice , any type
Equipment
- Bamboo steamer
Method
First, prepare the pickled kumquats. Mix together the kombu, water, rice vinegar, sugar, salt and soy sauce until the sugar and salt are dissolved
- 5g of dried kombu
- 100ml of water
- 220g of rice vinegar
- 75g of cane sugar
- 15g of salt
- 5g of soy sauce
Weigh out 70g of the brine, reserving the remainder for other pickles, and pour over the kumquats. Leave them in the fridge for at least 2 days before using
- 70g of kumquats, thinly sliced and deseeded
To make the sauce for the kinpira, add the Mizkan Honteri, sake and soy sauce to a pan. Simmer over a high heat until the volume has reduced by half
Toast the sansho or Sichuan peppercorns in a pan until fragrant, and then crush them with the sea salt in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle
- 1/2 tbsp of sansho pepper, or use Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
Heat up the sesame oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the kabocha and carrots until just tender, but retaining a little bite
Once tender, transfer the carrots and kabocha to a bowl, and pour some of the kinpira sauce, tasting until it is seasoned enough. Drain the pickled kumquats and add them to the bowl. Mix well
Massage the venison haunch with unroasted sesame oil and season with salt
- 150g of venison haunch
- 12g of unroasted sesame oil
- 1 pinch of sea salt
Heat up a heavy pan over a high heat. Sear the venison until browned on all sides, then remove from the pan from the heat and set the venison aside
Next, prepare the steamer for smoking the venison. Line the bottom of a pan with two layers of foil. Add the tea and rice on top of the foil
- 12g of hojicha tea
- 30g of rice , any type
Place the pan over a high heat, and then heat up until the tea starts to smoke
Once the tea starts to smoke, turn the heat down to medium. Place the venison in a bamboo steamer, place the steamer on top of the pan, and top with the lid
Smoke the venison for 5 minutes, then take the steamer off the heat and take the meat out of the basket to rest for a couple minutes
Slice the smoked venison and plate alongside the kabocha and carrot kinpira and a small pile of the sansho salt. Drizzle over the remaining kinpira sauce
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Hojicha smoked venison sashimi and kabocha kinpira
