Unagi - this exotic dressing comes from the land of the rising sun and longevity - Japan. Unagi sauce is served not only with sushi, but also with any dishes with smoked eel. This dressing has a pronounced salty-smoky taste and a slightly sweet aftertaste. She is able to turn any simple fish dish into an exquisite and tasty delicacy for festive table. This Japanese “seasoning” can also be purchased in the store, but, as a rule, good product the price will be quite high. And, of course, every housewife would not mind learning how to cook it herself. Today we will make your dream come true and reveal the secret of how to make unagi sauce at home.

Classic unagi sauce recipe

It’s worth starting with the classic recipe used by Japanese chefs. They generally do not use dressings that are sold in stores, but prefer to prepare them themselves.

The classic unagi sauce recipe consists of the following ingredients:

• Dry white wine – 300 ml.
• Mirin – 300 ml.
• Soy sauce – 300 ml.
• Hondashi seasoning - one third teaspoon
• Sugar, or better yet use powdered sugar – 3 tablespoons.

Of course, not everyone understands the classic composition of unagi sauce. So before I show you step by step instructions on cooking with photos, we’ll figure out the main components of the recipe.

• What is mirin? This is a low alcohol cook's rice wine. Mirin is a type of sake, but sake has a slightly higher alcohol level. This rice wine is used to add a sweet taste to dishes. Another feature of using mirin is that rice wine can kill the smell of fish, which many people do not like.
• And something else that may be unfamiliar to you is the “Hondashi” seasoning. This is a powdered seasoning that is a base for soups, rice, noodles and dressings. To avoid preparing fish broth, cooks use Hondashi granules. You can buy these products in supermarkets in the Japanese cuisine section, although they are quite difficult to find.
• But many people probably know about soy sauce, and it’s available in almost every store. You can follow the original recipe.

Well, now let's start the cooking process:

1. Pour dry white wine into the pan. By the way, semi-dry white will also do.
2. Add soy dressing to the wine.
3. Then pour in mirin and Hondashi fish broth. Mix everything thoroughly until the Hondashi seasoning granules dissolve.
4. Place the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. As soon as the mixture boils, reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer for about 2 hours. During this time, the mass will decrease in volume and thicken.
5. But don't go too far. As soon as a caramel-colored foam appears on the surface, the pan can be removed from the heat.
6. Add sugar or powdered sugar to the still hot mixture and mix everything until the sugar is completely dissolved. When using powdered sugar, you won’t have to wait long for dissolution.
7. The resulting mass must be cooled.
8. Pour the dressing into a special sauce boat, and you can serve. Bon appetit!

Tip: Store the Japanese dressing for rolls, sushi and fish - unagi sauce - in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container.

Adapted unagi sauce recipe

It happens that it is almost impossible to find special products for making Japanese sauce, for example, you live in a small town or even far from the city, somewhere in the village. This is not a reason to refuse to make unagi sauce at home, you can simply replace some components, and we will tell you how to make unagi sauce by replacing the main components.

The adapted recipe consists of the following products:

• Soy sauce – 60 ml.
• Olive oil – 75 ml.
• Honey – 15 gr.
• Starch – 4 gr.
• Fresh ginger – 7 gr.

The preparation scheme is as follows:

1. Mix soy sauce with olive oil in a saucepan.
2. Next add honey.
3. Grate the ginger root on a fine grater and squeeze out all the juice. Add ginger juice to the main mass.
4. Place the pan over low heat. Add starch, stirring occasionally. Continue stirring to avoid lumps forming.
5. We continue to cook until desolate, but under no circumstances allow the mass to boil and seethe.
6. Remove the thickened mass from the heat and let cool.
7. Pour the cooled dressing into a gravy boat and you can serve. Bon appetit!

Unagi sauce prepared by yourself will differ, first of all, in quality, because you will be confident in its composition than if you buy it in a store with the addition of a whole bunch of E-additives. The taste of homemade unagi, if you prepared it exactly in accordance with the proposed recipe, will be the same as that of professional Japanese chefs, so it’s worth making this famous Japanese dressing at least once to surprise your family and friends.

Video: Original recipe for unagi sauce

Homemade sauce can easily turn an ordinary dish into a festive one. In this regard, absolutely all housewives should know the recipes for its preparation. Today we decided to tell you about how the famous Japanese unagi sauce is made.

Classic recipe

Making unagi sauce at home is simple and easy. To implement this recipe, you will need only the following components:

• semi-dry white wine (dry can be used) - about 200 ml;
• soy sauce - about 200 ml;
• fish broth “Hondashi” - 1/2 dessert spoon;
• sweet rice wine or so-called “Merin” - approximately 200 ml;
• fine sugar - 2 large spoons.

The process of preparing Japanese dressing

To make unagi sauce, you need to use a small saucepan. White semi-dry wine is infused into it and soy dressing is added. After mixing the ingredients, cover them with a lid and leave them aside for a while. After this, “Merin” (sweet) rice wine is added to the resulting mass. Also put fish broth into the saucepan and mix thoroughly until it is completely dissolved.

Once all the main ingredients are in one bowl, place them over high heat and bring to a boil. Having carried out the described actions, reduce the temperature of the stove to a minimum and simmer the contents of the pan for 1.5-2 hours.

During the specified period of time, the volume of the sauce should be reduced by half. As soon as its surface is covered with caramel-colored foam, the dishes are removed from the stove.

Sugar is added to the almost finished unagi sauce and stirred quickly until the sweet spice is completely dissolved. In this form, the Japanese dish is left aside.

Once the unagi sauce has cooled, it should resemble a thick, dark brown syrup. If this consistency does not suit you, then you can add a little boiling water to it.

Adapted unagi sauce: homemade recipe

Not all cooks can find the ingredients needed to prepare Japanese sauce. However, this does not mean that you have to give up this delicious dressing. After all, experienced chefs have long ago developed an adapted recipe. Let's look at it in more detail.

So, we need:

• soy sauce (can be purchased in almost all stores) - about 40 ml;
• unfragranced olive oil - 50 ml;
• fresh honey - approximately 10 g;
• ginger (piece) - no more than 5 g;
• potato starch - 3 g.

A method for preparing a tasty and simple dressing for fish

How should you make adapted unagi sauce? This homemade recipe requires the use of a blue sauté pan. Refined olive oil and soy sauce are poured into it. After mixing the ingredients, add fresh honey. If you don’t like the taste of this product, you can use regular powdered sugar instead.

For a spicier and more flavorful unagi sauce, we recommend adding ginger to it. However, before this, it should be grated and the juice should be squeezed out using gauze (the cake can be thrown away).

After thoroughly mixing all the ingredients with a large spoon, place them over high heat and bring to a boil. After the aromatic sauce begins to bubble, add potato starch to it. The resulting mass is thoroughly mixed until smooth (so that there are no lumps). In this form, unagi sauce, the photo of which is presented in this article, is boiled for several minutes.

Having achieved thickening of the aromatic mass, it is removed from the stove and left in the bowl for several hours. During this time, the Japanese sauce should cool completely.

How and with what to present it to the table?

We talked about how to prepare the famous Japanese unagi sauce at home. However, here a new question arises about what to serve with this dressing for the holiday table.

As a rule, unagi sauce (classic or adapted) is served with dinner along with fried meat, steamed fish and other ingredients. It is also very often seasoned with various salads and snacks.

It should also be said that unagi sauce is an integral part of such popular dishes as sushi and rolls. In this case, the delicious aromatic dressing should be served in small bowls.

A typical Japanese grocery store has hundreds of containers with a variety of sauces for a wide variety of dishes. And I must say, Japanese chefs know a lot about sauces. What is the price of unagi sauce - a seasoning for fish dishes made from eel!

What is unagi

It’s hard to imagine Japanese cuisine without traditional dressings, which oriental chefs add to almost all dishes. Connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine know that of all the abundance of sauces, the most popular are three: shoyu, gamadari, unagi. Shoyu is a real soy sauce, which in the East is called the king of sauces. Nut gamadari serves as a traditional salad dressing. And unagi, which will be discussed further, is an eel-based sauce.

Unagi is a thick, sweet-salty, dark-colored soy sauce-based dressing. Classic unagi sauce is a mixture of rice wine (mirin), soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, sugar and a few slices of fresh eel. Although there are other recipes for this dressing, in particular based on smoked eel and starch. Although the second version of unagi is noticeably different from the classic one, lovers of Japanese cuisine appreciate the special piquancy of this dressing.

This sauce got its name not by chance. In Japanese, “unagi” translates to “river eel.” Japanese chefs traditionally serve this dressing with fish and seafood dishes, but most often with eel dishes. Eastern cooks use unagi to marinate cut eel fillets. They call the resulting dish unadon. In addition, this sauce serves as an excellent addition to rolls and sushi, cold and hot fish dishes.

Why is it useful?

People are more likely to think about the beneficial and dangerous properties of food when we're talking about about exotic dishes. This also applies to Japanese cuisine. The benefits and harms of unagi sauce remain unknown to many. But if you analyze the set of ingredients used to prepare this savory sauce, it is not difficult to guess that this dressing has certain health benefits.

Researchers who studied the effects of unagi on human body, made some interesting discoveries. At one time, it was proven that dishes containing this dressing speed up metabolism and improve the functioning of the digestive organs. This Japanese exotic can be very useful in case of complete lack of appetite. Special substances contained in the product stimulate the production of gastric juice, thereby increasing the feeling of hunger. It is known that eel sauce has a beneficial effect on the functioning of of cardio-vascular system, helps keep the body in good shape.

Now about the calorie content. Energy value 100 g of unagi is about 235 kcal. This dressing contains virtually no fat (approximately 1.5 g per 100 g of product). There is also little protein in it - about 4 g/100 g, but carbohydrates make up almost half of a 100-gram serving of unagi.

But this product also has contraindications. Japanese eel dressing is not suitable for people with liver or pancreas diseases. And diabetics should remember the presence of sugar in unagi.

Use in cooking

Unagi sauce was originally created for eel dishes. But today chefs all over the world add it to cold appetizers and hot fish and seafood dishes. Pairs well with vegetables and adds flavor to cooked rice. Sweet and salty dressing with a smoky flavor perfectly complements the taste of dishes oriental cuisine. Although lovers of gastronomic experiments add it to many other dishes. Some argue that eel dressing goes very well with fried chicken and pork ribs.

In addition to its original taste, gourmets appreciate unagi for its beautiful caramel color and pleasant consistency. This sauce is often used to decorate prepared seafood dishes.

How to make unagi yourself

If you don’t visit Japanese restaurants often, but want to taste the taste of unagi, then you can try making this oriental dressing yourself. Cooking exotics is quite easy. The main thing is to get necessary ingredients. By the way, Japanese restaurants never use store-bought unagi; good chefs always prepare the dressing themselves. Probably each of them has their own secrets for preparing a special sauce, but general rules Unagi creations are accessible to a wider audience. There are several recipes for Japanese sweet and salty sauce floating around the Internet.

Recipe 1

So, in order to feel at least a little like a chef in a Japanese restaurant, you need to stock up on:

• white semi-dry wine;
• mirin rice wine;
• soy sauce;
• sugar;
• dry fish broth Hondashi.

In a saucepan, mix white and rice wine, soy sauce (200 ml each) and fish broth (1 teaspoon). When the grains of fish broth are completely dissolved, the mixture can be placed on low heat. After boiling, reduce the gas and continue cooking unagi for 90 minutes. During this time, the amount of liquid in the pan will decrease by half, and the mixture will turn caramel color. At this stage, you can remove the pan from the heat, add sugar (2 tablespoons) to the hot mixture and mix everything quickly. The finished sauce is usually stored in a transparent glass container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Recipe 2

This version of the sauce is the famous unagi with smoked eel and starch. To prepare you will need:

• soy sauce;
• mirin;
• water;
• sugar;
• starch;
• smoked eel.

In a heatproof bowl, mix water (150 ml), mirin (250 ml), soy sauce (200 ml), sugar (160 g) and finely chopped smoked eel fillet (50 g). Bring the contents of the pan to a boil over low heat and cook for about 8 minutes. Separately dilute in cold water starch (15 g) and pour into the boiling mixture. Until the sauce is fully cooked, cook for another 5 minutes, then cool, strain and pour into small bottles.

Recipe 3

The dressing prepared according to this recipe is least reminiscent of classic version, but in terms of the set of ingredients it is the most accessible for home cooking.

To make this version of unagi at home, you will need a set of products from:

• 40 ml soy sauce;
• 5 g fresh ginger;
• 10 g honey;
• 50 ml olive oil;
• 3 g starch.

In a small saucepan, combine honey, olive oil, soy sauce and strained ginger root juice. Heat the mixture over low heat and add starch to it. Cook the future unagi, stirring constantly, until thickened, but do not allow it to boil. Cool the finished dressing and pour into a glass container.

What to cook with unagi

Now that you've already stocked up on a bottle of homemade unagi (and maybe even the real thing), it's time to find out what you can cook with Japanese dressing. But it should be said right away: dishes to which eel dressing is added are not salted, since it is already quite salty.

One of the easiest recipes is Japanese baked fish. Cut the cleaned fish into pieces and fry in a frying pan until golden brown. Then pour over the unagi sauce and place in the oven for 4-10 minutes. Meanwhile, fry sliced ​​vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, onions, carrots, shiitake mushrooms) in a frying pan. Add oyster and chili sauce to almost ready vegetables. Before serving, sprinkle the fish with eel dressing and the vegetables with sesame oil.

In the Japanese culinary tradition, unagi is one of the most popular sauces. In the East, it is served with most fish dishes and some types of sushi. Meanwhile, the original taste of this dressing did not leave European chefs indifferent, and many of them are also increasingly resorting to this tasty and healthy assistant.

Unagi sauce can be prepared in two ways. It goes well with fish, vegetable dishes, and grilled chicken.

Unagi sauce can be served in a gravy boat

Ingredients

Soy sauce 50 milliliters Olive oil 50 milliliters Honey 10 grams Ginger root 20 grams Potato starch 10 grams

• Number of servings: 4
• Cooking time: 20 minutes

How to make unagi sauce at home

It is most convenient to cook it in a saucepan. You need to mix olive oil and soy sauce. Add honey, mix everything well. In order for the consistency to be uniform, honey must be liquid.

Ginger gives the sauce a special aroma and tartness. Grate the ginger root on a fine grater and squeeze a tablespoon of juice out of it through cheesecloth. Add to mixture. Place the saucepan on the fire and bring the sauce to a boil. Add starch and mix well. There should be no lumps in the sauce. The liquid should simmer for a few minutes until its consistency becomes thicker. If the sauce is too thick, dilute it with boiling water.

Unagi is served completely cooled. It goes well with fish, especially eel. It can also be used as a dressing for seafood. If unagi is used for chicken, it is customary to sprinkle the pieces of meat with sesame seeds.

Classic unagi sauce recipe

There is nothing complicated in preparing the sauce for this recipe, but you will need some not too common ingredients. They can be found in stores or departments that sell everything you need to make sushi.

Here's what you'll need:

• 200 ml dry or semi-dry white wine;
• 200 ml soy sauce;
• 200 ml sweet rice wine;
• 5 gr. seasonings "Hondashi";
• Sugar or powdered sugar - 2 tbsp. l.

Mix soy sauce, wine and rice wine in a saucepan. Add Hondashi seasoning. Mix everything thoroughly, the seasoning should not form lumps. Put the sauce on the fire, bring to a boil, cover with a lid. It should cook for an hour and a half over low heat.

After adding sugar or powdered sugar, stir until completely dissolved. A caramel-colored foam may form on the surface; it does not need to be removed. During boiling, the volume of liquid will decrease by half, this is absolutely normal. The sauce should also thicken slightly. It is cooled before serving.

Unagi sauce, prepared at home, is in no way inferior in taste to the finished product from the store. On the contrary, due to the lack of preservatives, it is considered more useful. Its taste is both sweet and slightly salty. You can not only season fish or meat with it, but also pour it over cooked rice or vegetables.

The finished sauce is stored in the refrigerator in a tightly closed glass container.

06.02.2019

Unagi sauce is a dark, thick sauce that is eaten with eel dishes and used in rolls and sushi as a flavoring agent. On the site you will learn how to prepare it at home at home. simple recipe. Read on for all about what unagi sauce is and what it is eaten with, its composition, how to choose, where to add it and much more.

What is unagi sauce?

Unagi is a thick, sweet-salty, dark brown sauce made from soy sauce, sugar and mirin, used in various Japanese dishes that feature the eel of the same name (a type of fish). It is also poured on top of rolls or nigiri sushi, most often Unagi and Dragon.

The sauce is also called natsume or kabayaki.

Unagi in Japan is called freshwater eel - a very common type of fish used in rolls and sushi. It is much sweeter and more tender than its sea counterparts. It has fewer bones and they are soft. It is often served as nigiri - individual pieces of fish on rice balls. It's held on a strip of nori and tastes like soft but firm white fish—perch, but sweeter.

Although unagi sauce is named after the dish it is used in, it does not actually contain eel.

It looks just like teriyaki sauce and tastes very similar. Unagi sauce has a rich color and a thick, shiny consistency.

Ingredients of unagi sauce

Most unagi sauce recipes contain soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Eel is not usually found as an ingredient except in a few (rarer) recipes.

Soy sauce

Mirin

Mirin is a Japanese sweet rice wine used in cooking. It gives dishes a soft sourness.

Brown sugar

You can substitute honey for brown sugar, but you will need more than the amount called for in the recipe.

Other Ingredients

To get the right consistency, add water to thin the unagi or add cornstarch to thicken it.

Some recipes contain additional flavorings, for example:

• sake – Japanese alcoholic drink from rice;
• Dashi is a traditional Japanese broth, the basis of many soups and sauces.

Most store-bought unagi sauces contain ingredients such as: soy sauce, corn syrup, sugar, water, salt, MSG, vinegar, caramel coloring, lemon acid, sodium inosinate, sodium guanylate, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate as preservatives.

What does unagi sauce smell and taste like?

Unagi sauce combines the flavors of soy sauce and sweet rice wine. It gives any dish a special richness. The smell is sweet-spicy, smoky.

Homemade unagi sauce recipe

To make real unagi sauce at home, you only need 4 ingredients: soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sake. This classic recipe allows you to adjust the sweetness and saltiness levels to suit your taste.

To replace mirin, dry white wine and rice vinegar, taken in a ratio of 2 to 1, are suitable. Sake can be omitted.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup soy sauce;
• ½ tbsp. Mirina;
• ¼ tbsp. sake;
• ¼ cup brown sugar.

How to cook:

1. Pour the mirin and sake into a small saucepan, place on the stove and heat over high heat until boiling, then reduce the temperature to medium.
2. Stir until the smell of alcohol disappears (this will take about 2-3 minutes).
3. Turn the stove to low heat and add the brown sugar to the pan. Continue stirring until it dissolves.
4. Pour in soy sauce. Like sugar, it tends to burn quickly, so stir constantly.
5. After 10 minutes, taste the sauce. If you prefer a sweeter taste, add more sugar - about 2 tablespoons. If you need it to be more sour, you will need 1 tbsp. l. soy sauce and ½ tbsp. l. sake. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens. It should become the same consistency as maple syrup.
6. Once the sauce reaches the desired sweetness and thickness, turn off the stove and wait until it cools. Unagi will thicken further as it cools.

Pour the finished sauce into a glass jar and cover with an airtight lid. Homemade unagi can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Sometimes it can be difficult to get the consistency you want. In this case, unagi is thickened with cornstarch. To do this you will need:

1. Mix cornstarch with water in a ratio of approximately 1:2.
2. Slowly pour the solution into the sauce pan while it simmers.

How to choose and where to buy unagi sauce

Look for unagi sauce in the Asian food section of supermarkets or specialty stores. If you don't find it, go to online stores.

Among the available unagi sauces, choose one that does not contain MSG or artificial flavors. It should contain soy sauce, mirin, sugar and a few other additional ingredients. Store-bought versions often contain preservatives.

Chemical composition of unagi sauce

Calorie content of one tablespoon of unagi sauce prepared according to classic recipe(from soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar) is 41 calories.

In 1 tbsp. l. sauce:

• 10 grams of carbohydrates;
• 1.1 g protein;
• 0 g fat;
• 8.9 g sugar;
• 41.3 mg potassium;
• 957 mg sodium.

Use of unagi sauce in cooking

Unagi is commonly used as a main ingredient in Japanese cooking. It goes well with various types rolls, and also serves as a marinade for fish and chicken.

Here are some tips on what to eat unagi sauce with:

• It is poured over sushi and eel rolls to improve the taste and appearance when serving.
• Used for marinating and glazing meat, fish, tofu and anything that is cooked on the grill.
• Add as a seasoning to freshly cooked noodles.
• Combine with fried fish or chicken.
• Used as a seasoning for roast pork and many different vegetables.

Eel in unagi sauce (Don) – recipe

A popular Japanese dish with unagi eel is Don or Unadon..

Cooking instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 ºC.
2. Cut the unagi fillets into 4 pieces and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes.
3. Place the cooked rice in a separate plate and top with a tablespoon of unagi sauce.
4. Pour some sauce over the fish. Serve immediately.

How to replace unagi sauce

If the store doesn't have unagi sauce, you can use other seasonings of similar consistency and color instead. Use as a substitute:

• Worcestershire sauce (eg from Lea & Perrins).