Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 8 hours ago
Salmon flakes are a Japanese rice topping recipe that turns cooked salmon into a savory, flaky, and convenient addition for rice bowls, onigiri, bento, and quick meals. This dish usually starts by cooking salmon until tender, then removing the skin and bones before breaking the fish into small flakes. Seasonings such as soy sauce, sake, mirin, salt, sesame oil, or a little sugar can add umami, gentle sweetness, and aroma while the salmon is stirred over low heat to remove extra moisture. As the flakes dry slightly, the texture becomes light and easy to sprinkle over warm rice without becoming soggy. The final salmon flakes are simple, flavorful, and practical to keep on hand, pairing well with nori, sesame seeds, green onion, egg, pickles, or miso soup for an easy Japanese-style meal.
Transcript
00:00A true umami rich salmon that flakes a part with just a gentle touch, then combined with sweet mirin and
00:06savoury soy sauce until it's perfectly moist.
00:08That's the 20 minute salmon flake recipe that I'm going to show you today.
00:13For a beautiful version of this recipe, visit my website, just google salmon flakes so that you'd find me.
00:19When I started, I grabbed two salmon fillets, approximately 100g per fillet.
00:23Now, you want to look for leaner salmon for this recipe.
00:26My readers told me that she tried this with really fatty salmon and had a tough time getting those perfect
00:32flakes because all the fat got in the way.
00:35So if you've got options at your fish counter, lean is the way to go.
00:39The next thing we're going to do is patting these fillets dry with some kitchen paper.
00:44So I'm going to hit these fillets with a few generous pinch of salt and turn them so they're coated
00:49all over.
00:50Then I'm going to let them hang out for about 10 minutes.
00:53That salt is drawing out moisture containing those visiodural compounds through osmotic pressure.
01:07After 10 minutes, you'll see some liquid that's accumulated so give the fillets another pat with paper towels to soak
01:15all that up.
01:23Right, now we're going to cook these salmon fillets gently.
01:26I'll fill this pot with enough water to cover the salmon, then bring it up to a boil.
01:31As soon as it's bubbling away, I'm immediately turning the heat weight down to low, so it's just barely simmering.
01:38I'll drop the salmon right into the barely simmering water and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
01:49After 5 minutes, I'll lift these fillets out of the water and transfer them to a heat proof container.
01:55Now I'll let them cool just enough so that I can touch them without burning my fingers off.
01:59Once they're cool enough to touch, I'll gently peel off the skin.
02:03At this stage, it should come off easily.
02:06Don't touch the skin, I like to sprinkle it with some pepper, then quickly pan fry for a little snack
02:11while I'm finishing the rest of this recipe.
02:14It's time to flake this salmon.
02:16I'll grab my wooden spatula here, but chopsticks work great too.
02:20I'm gently brushing and breaking up the salmon.
02:23See how it just falls apart into those beautiful tender flakes?
02:27That's exactly what we want.
02:32If your salmon isn't completely cooked in the centre, it's totally fine.
02:36It's going to cook more in the next step.
02:39I've roughly got the salmon all flaked out, now's a good time to check for any pin bones.
02:44Even if the package said boneless, there are sometimes a few sneaky little ones hiding in there.
02:49Just run your fingers over the flaked salmon and use tweezers or something to pull out any bones you find.
02:55Right, now it's time to build flavour.
02:58I'm putting a frying pan over low to medium low heat.
03:01Once the pan is warm, I'll melt one teaspoon of butter.
03:04When the butter's all melted and starting to bubble a little, I'll mix in all my salmon flakes.
03:13Next, I'm going to add half tablespoon of sake, half tablespoon of mirin and just a touch more salt.
03:20This combination gives you the perfect mummy sweet savoury balance that makes this so addictive.
03:26Now slowly cook this until most of the liquid is gone.
03:29This is the most critical part of making perfect salmon flakes.
03:33Here's what I'm looking for.
03:35The salmon should look fluffy with little air pockets forming between the flakes.
03:40Still appear slightly moist but not wet.
03:42I'm watching for that moment just before the pan starts to show signs of browning at the edges.
03:48The flakes should move freely in the pan without sticking together.
03:52Just before removing from heat, I'll gently fold in a quarter teaspoon of soy sauce and some toasted sesame seeds.
03:58These add this wonderful nutty flavour and a really pleasing texture contrast to the soft salmon flakes.
04:05If you want to store these salmon flakes, you'll want to let them cook completely before you put them away.
04:12Completely cooled, you can place them in a clean container, cover and refrigerate.
04:17They'll keep for about 3-4 days in the fridge.
04:24And that's it. Look at this gorgeous pile of salmon flakes.
04:28I love serving this on top of a bowl of steaming hot rice with maybe a little sprinkle of green
04:33onions.
04:35Or using it as a filling for nigiri rice balls.
04:39Want even more delicious recipes? Grab my free cookbook from the link in the description.
04:45Okay, let's go over the ingredients one more time.
04:48And if you're ready to cook, grab the written instructions by clicking the full recipe box with a picture that's
04:53about to pop up on your screen.
04:56The link to the full recipe is on the screen for you now.
04:58And if you want to watch more similar videos, don't miss my quick and easy recipe playlist popping up on
05:03your screen as well.
05:04Thanks so much for watching and I hope to see you in the next one. Bye.
Comments

Recommended