Ikuradon

This was my dinner tonight:

Ikuradon (a bowl of rice topped with salmon roe) garnished with whole shiso leaves.

The ikura is homemade. Well, I didn't lay the roe myself, but you know what I mean. I made it from nama sujiko (a raw sac of salmon roe), which is far cheaper than prepared ikura (salmon roe) but takes a bit of work. Store-bought ikura is usually preserved in salt and is a pretty orange colour, but when making ikura at home it is more common to preserve it in soy sauce. This is called ikura no shouyu-zuke, and as you can see it results in a darker, less attractive colour. The flavour is plenty delicious though, so whenever I find nama sujiko I like to make ikura no shouyu-zuke.

If you're interested in making it yourself, here is an eGullet thread on roe with basic instructions. And although it's all in Japanese, the pictures in this recipe are helpful.

Comments

[carlyn]

Amy;
The ikuradon looks really delicious...and you made it yourself!!! What ambition...

[milgwimper]

Wow the Ikura looks really good, and the contrast to the shisho is really pretty. :D I have added you to my blog links I hope you do not mind.

Milgwimper

[Amy]

Thanks! It felt so luxurious to use such a large amount of ikura, because it's normally so expensive. But it was so easy to make that I might never buy ready-made ikura again!

Thanks for the link Milgwimper.

[KT121]

This looks absolutely delicious!Very beautifully presented,too.
I can't even eremember when I ate my last ikura...

[milgwimper]

Amy,

No thank you for posting this wonderful blog! :D

[Amy]

Thank you KT121. My husband did the presentation- nice, huh. I wish I could send you some ikura! If only we could trade- those cute little squash from your garden look great!

[Pim]

This looks extraodinary. I'd love to try some. Thanks for the links.

cheers,
Pim