Petoraaru karei no kankoku-fu pirikara-ni / braised petrale sole in mildly spicy sauce, Korean style

An easy and tasty fish dish with a Korean twist. Tastes good with plain rice or drinks.

1/2 of recipe:
226 calories; 26.4 g protein; 5.1 g fat; 12.0 g carbohydrate; 11.5 g net carbs; 340 mg sodium (when using shoyukoji made with 50% reduced-sodium soy sauce); 62 mg cholesterol; 0.5 g fiber



<Ingredients>

2 fillets petrale sole (258 g in photo)
Flour (to dust sole; not in photo)
1/2 tbsp sesame oil (to saute sole; not in photo)
1 garlic
1 small knob ginger
1 tbsp Korean red chili flakes

For broth
1/2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp shoyukoji soy sauce rice malt
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake
100cc water

3 egoma wild perilla leaves (for garnish)


<Directions>
1.

Mix all ingredients for broth. 

2.

Skin and thinly slice ginger.
Peel off skin of garlic, and smash.
Julienne one egoma leaf (save two for plating).







3.

Cut sole lengthwise.
Dust with flour the side that would be inside when each strip is folded into a triangle (skin side would be outside).

Then fold each strip into a triangle (knot), and dust both sides.









4.

Heat oil in a pot, and saute sole on medium heat. 

When one side is cooked (at least one-third from the bottom turns opaque), flip.
Put ginger and garlic in open space in pot, and cook.







5.

When sole is basically cooked, pour broth mixture, add Korean red chili flakes, bring to boil, and reduce heat to medium low.

Cook until broth becomes somewhat thick, about 10 minutes. 

Pour broth over fish from time to time, and flip sole once or twice for even flavoring.

6.

Put one egoma leaf in each bowl or plate, plate sole, ad pour some sauce (1-2 tbsp each).

Top with julienned egoma leaf.










<Notes>

• Fish can simply be simmered, if using very fresh fish that stays intact in broth. I sauteed the fish first mainly to hold the triangle shape.
  Folding into a triangle works great with long, thin fillets like petrale sole and dover sole, but it is optional.
• If shoyukoji is not at hand, use soy sauce.
• Korean red chili flakes are very mild -- even the 1 tbsp above adds only gentle spiciness to the food.
• Place this fish directly on top of steamed rice (or on top of egoma or nori seaweed over steamed rice) for a yummy donburi.
• If egoma is not available, try nira garlic chives, green onion, shiso perilla leaves, seri water dropwort, mizuna, mibuna, arugula, cilantro, cress, kaiware daikon radish sprouts ... anything with a distinctive taste or spicy note works great.
• Leftover sauce is wonderful with other dishes or makes a great base for sauce for bibimbap Korean mixed rice or ssambap  Korean rice wrap. Approximately 2 tbsp sauce contains roughly 140 mg sodium.
• The above sodium figure is when you eat both fish and sauce served in the bowl. The sodium content of fish is slightly above 100 mg per serving, so try to leave the sauce if you're watching your sodium intake.

(Last updated: August 30, 2014)