I realized I haven’t posted a Japanese fish dish for a while so today I want to share a very easy and simple recipe. The featured fish will be Mackerel and the Japanese name is Saba. Does that ring a bell yet? You probably have seen Saba Shioyaki (Salt Broiled Mackerel) on a menu at a Japanese restaurant. However, today’s recipe Saba Misoni is not broiled but simmered in a miso-based sauce. This dish is very common dish in Japan and my mother made it just as often as Saba Shioyaki.
Before going to the recipe, I’d like to thank Pola from An Italian Cooking in the Midwest for passing me blog awards! Thank you Pola!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Ingredients:
- 2 (.5 lb) Mackerel fillet
- ½ tsp. soy sauce
- 1 skinny green onion (optional)
- 2 round slices of carrot (optional)
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp. miso (I use Awase Miso (mix of red and white miso))
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 Tbsp. sake
- 1 Tbsp. sliced ginger
Seasonings
Instructions:
- Rinse mackerel in cold water and pat dried. Make a cross incision on the skin side.
- In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients for Seasonings and bring it to a boil. Stir well so that miso is completely dissolved.
- When boiling, place mackerel in the pan, skin side top. Reduce heat to medium heat and put an otoshibuta on (not the regular lid). Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
- Add soy sauce and stir well by shifting the pan. Remove from heat and serve the fish on a plate. Pour extra sauce on top. Garnish with green onion and carrot flower petal. Serve immediately.
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Enjoy!
Hi, I'm Nami. Thanks for stopping by Just One Cookbook. You can read little bit more about me 
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Mackerel is one of my favorite fishes. I like what we call “blue fish”: mackerel, sardines, anchovies, tuna… they taste great! This is a very interesting way of cooking it! I love your site, I am always learning something new.
Lovely presentation as always Nami! 
Love how healthy, easy and delicious this looks.I see that you take so much of efforts when styling your food – the carrot flowers look pretty with scallions! I miss fresh water fish a lot in USA- after coming here my fish consumption has reduced a lot!
Wow! That looks so awesome. Yummy!
delicious recipe, I don’t cook fish often enough.
Very nice! I’m going to have to try this, and soon. We love mackerel.
very nice! awesome yummmmm!
What a pretty presentation! Looks delicious!
Nice food dish, Nami! Looks tasty and light! Perfect for the summer!
Nami, I loved this Japanese way of cooking Mackarel. I have heard so much about sake, but didn’t know how to use in cooking. Saba Misoni rocks! Now I shall ask my Japanese friends here to tell me from where to get an otoshibuta.
Thank you Purabi! I’m not sure if you have checked, but I have a page for How To Make Otoshibuta. You don’t have to buy it unless you really want the lid. I don’t own one myself…I usually make it with aluminum foil.
Sake is one of the important condiments we use for cooking Japanese food. 
this post looks so pretty! thank you for sharing this! it is just stunning:)
Hi Nami! Great fish recipe! I love strong flavored dishes and I never know that miso can be cooked this way besides the miso soup! LOL
Hi Lyn! We have so many dishes that we use miso.
I hope I can introduce more miso flavored dishes! 
That’s great Nami! I’m looking forward for them! No hurry..
Enjoy your weekend!
Oh! Congrats on your awards too Nami! I clicked too fast… hee…
Nami, how GORGEOUS! Your food styling just takes my breath away! Congrats on your blog award, too
Very nutritious.. Mackeral has great flavour. BTW misoni sounds a bit Italian:)
Nami, I love saba! Yours look perfect and is totally hunger-inducing!! Have to eat some soon =)
Nami, by now you know how much I love fish. Mackerel is such a lovely fish and it has so much flavour. I get to buy good mackerels sometimes and this is one dish I can make with it. I can’t wait.
Nami this Mackerel looks very delicate and delicious. I am drooling just by looking at it. With a bowl of rice, I am in heaven!
Mackerel is so good for you and I love the combination here.
Nami, your simmered mackerel looks so much better than mine. Like in an elegant Japanese restaurant!!! I don’t even mention the photo, yours are always perfect! My mackerel looked like a huge mess (http://www.withaglass.com/?p=4619)! I have been making it with red miso, cut it whole (although lately I try to eliminate most of the big bones, since they don’t soften, as some people say in their recipes). I find it a pure delight. I must try it with fillets only and in white miso, like you.
Hi Sissi! Yours look delicious Sissi! I didn’t know you also cook Saba no Misoni. You really cook a lot of Japanese dishes and surprise me.
I use Awase Miso (mixed with white and red) for most of my cooking because my mom uses that. Let me know if you like Awase Miso. Regarding bones – my mom use a pressure cooker to cook it but I don’t have it so fillet is very easy. 
Thank you Nami for having a look at my mackerel. As I said it’s so messy… I will try one day using awase miso. Now I use either red or white organic miso. Strangely both are equally salty (not very salty in fact) and I prefer the red miso (I think it’s especially the colour…) in everything apart from my breakfast miso soup (miso soup with tofu is the best breakfast in the world! I regret not having discovered it a long time ago).
I know, the recipe I used to do this (I didn’t know your blog at the time!) advised a pressure cooker or long cooking, but even three or four hours don’t soften the biggest bones without a pressure cooker (I don’t have).
Next time there will be fillets only!
YUM!! I loveee saba! And any fish in miso is perfect in my book!
Look delicious, I can’t wait to try! I love saba!
Thanks Nami!!
One more incredible recipe Nami! Wonderfully presented and mouthwatering photos! Yummy!!!
Congrats once again on your awards Nami!
I would love to try this recipe. Ryan said Saba in Miso Sauce was one of his favorites when he went to Japan for training, and he introduced me to this canned Kakukawa Miso Mackerel which we buy from time to time at the Asian Store. I like it…but I’m sure making it on my own would be a whole lot better. I’m really glad you posted this one!
Hi Tina! So I wasn’t sure about canned Kakukawa Miso Mackerel, so I googled it, and I KNOW THIS BRAND! Oh my god, this is like very traditional canned mackerel! I didn’t know the name but never forget the “look”! These has bones in it and it has good calcium. I’m sure you and Ryan will like Saba Nitsuke. If you use fillet, it cooks very fast and very moist unlike this canned mackerel. Enjoy!
Another beautiful and inspiring post Nami! Great job!
That looks great, Nami! Love the pictures… Looks very appetizing! Congrats on the awards too
Fabulous post!
This recipe seems like it would be so complicated but it isn’t and it looks TASTY! Way to go
Nami, that looks crazy delicious!! I love the way that you prepared it…yummo!
First of all, have I mentioned lately how gorgeous your photographs are? Simply stunning. Second of all, I love this technique, and I love miso with fish. AND I have some miso in my fridge right now! Done and done.
I think that the simple dishes are often some of the best dishes! And you can’t go wrong with sake and miso!
Wow! This picture looks like you took it at one of those Japanese restaurants! I also love sabanomisoni ; )
Nami this looks really beautiful and I think I will try this very soon! Can you confirm the miso this calls for is shiro miso? I have some red on hand but want to be sure I have it right. How would it be if I substituted the two?
Glad to hear you are feeling better and thanks again for the terrific blog!
Hi Robert! Thanks for asking the question. I use Awase Miso (mix of white and red miso). I will mention in my recipe above. For the brand I use, you can check my Pantry page. I grew up with Awase Miso (depends on region/family type of miso people use is different), so all of my miso soup and miso dish is with Awase Miso. Thanks for your caring words.
Thanks for replying! Silly question maybe, but if I already have white and red miso in my pantry, can I save some $$ and make my own mixture out of those (like a 1:1 ratio, for example?) or do you recommend buying the Awase miso?
Hi Robert! Yes you can mix. Some people mix miso at home for their prefrence too. I think you can start with 1:1. Remember red is salty while white is more mild. You can make your own Awase Miso at home.
Just make sure you mix in a bowl before you start cooking. 
I don’t use mackerel very often in my cooking, and I don’t know why! You make this look so delicious – and I’m definitely intrigued by the miso sauce =)
another way to use miso! nami, i love this- while i dont usually use mackerel, it certainly makes me think of using it!
This dish looks beautiful!!! It’s making me hungry
I love the look of this dish. Fish is one of my favorites so I can always use more recipes
Nami what an incredible dish and so beautifully decorated. I haven’t eaten mackerel for the longest time and when I do, I am sure to use this wonderful recipe.
Mandy
That is an interesting recipe Nami..I love rading your recipes..there is always something new in them…
Stunning photography and presentation as always
Oh Nami, I love Saba too and it is not expensive here. I usually pan fry or grill the saba and I would definitely like to try your method with the sauce. Looks so delicious
Sounds relaly simple and flavourful! Looks great!
I have not tried this and it looks delicious! It is not easy to find fresh fish here in the Midwest and the choices are pretty limited. There is a fish market downtown but too far for me to drive there on a regular basis.
This looks delicious, and I love the beautiful arragement with chive stalks and carrot flower!
Looks like a perfect dish with steaming hot rice
Your saba misoni looks great! I love Japanese food but am intimidated when it comes to actually making anything myself. I’m glad I found your blog with such great instructions for everything.
Hello Nami,
This is looking absolutely delightful. Loved the new combo of ingredients and the recipe is so nicely made and presented. Thank you so much for all theappreciating comments on my space. It means a lot to me and every word is precious. Have a great day….Sonia !!!
I am actually not such a huge fan of fish and the only kind of fish I like is something like fishcake or salmon in sushi
, but this looks so delicious I might even be willing to try it. Unfortunately I’ve always been a rather picky eater and during the last few years my eating habit and the types of food I eat have gotten more and more unhealthy, for example I really enjoy eating fried foods now and in the past I didn’t care so much about them…! Btw, Nami, just want to let you know too that I’ll answer your e-mail during the weekend, I’ve been awfully busy this week and I tend to get too tired after work to do much, I hope it’s okay…!
Thanks CG! Actually, I don’t have too many repertoires of fish dish. My mom used to alternate dinner menu with meat or fish everyday (more balanced than mine), but I tend to cook way more meat than fish. Since my son started to eat regular food, he shows huge interest in fish than meat, so I’ve been cooking a lot more fish because of him. This is one of his favorite dish too. My son loves fried food too, but I still try to use my mom’s method…trying to balance out with other cooking methods and ingredients.
Nami, your photos are simply amazing!! You should be working for a magazine.
I’ve never actually had mackerel, but this recipe has me tempted. I’ve forwarded your blog to a friend of mine who is from Japan and she wrote the other day that she is really enjoying your writing! Thanks for such beautiful posts!
I love this recipe. That’s what’s the great thing about sharing recipes … what to you seems the obvious and everyday food may seem quite exotic to someone who has never tasted it … Keep these lovely recipes coming
Nami, how in the world did I miss this post? Glad to hear San Francisco is having warmer weather, I bet you and the family are enjoying being outdoors finally! I have officially quit my 3 day diet, it turned out to be more of a 2 and half day diet and I only lost 3 pounds. Who cares, I rather be enjoying the delicious foods than starving myself and not being able to taste the dishes I cook.
My husband loves fish, and every time we go to the Asian supermarket, I can see it in his eyes how much he wants me to cook Mackerel. Too bad I didn’t grow up eating this so I would look at the fish fillets and be dumbfounded as what to do with them, end up never buying them. I gotta try your recipe soon, it looks like something I couldn’t really mess up!
Nami, I gained back 1 pound already, so that diet no longer works well now I am 37 years old! Oh well, I am not going to focus on that and ruin all the food blogging fun…
2am? Oh lord you are getting worse than me. When I started my design business, I used to stay up until 1:30am, now I’ve slowly moved my bedtime to 12:30am, less dark eye circle this way. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, enjoy the warmer weather!
Yes, yes, yes…saba shioyaki is the common one in the restaurants, and I often wondered whether they have the mackerel in other variants besides salted and deep fried. I like this, A LOT!:) Next time, I must ask for Saba Misoni at the local Japanese restaurants and look at their baffled faces…LOL:)
I love Japanese food, especially anything with any sort of sakana in it…hehehe:D
Hi! first time leaving a comment here but have been dropping in to drool over your delicious photos:) Lovely blog!I love the look of this saba miso dish of yours..bet it tastes very good.
Im not a big fish lover, but this looks amazing!
Hi Nami, Your site is a great resource for Japanese home cook recipes. Very well done. The step-by-step guide is very useful too. Thanks for sharing this tasty way of cooking mackerel. Love miso!
Nami,
This is an interesting looking recipe. Mackerel is one of my favourite fish in Japanese cuisine. I love either the grilled saba shioyaki style or the vinaigrette sushi style and now another new version!
I’m still catching up Nami, and this picture is fantastic!
Hi Nami! I’m had the saba for dinner and it tasted great! I’m pleasantly surprise that it wasn’t too salty and overwhelming
Hi silei! I’m happy you liked this recipe!
Thank you so much for letting me know!
I admit that I’m not a huge fan of fish, but this one has me really excited. The description that the miso removes the fishy flavour is a big selling point!
Hi Jelly! I hope you will give it a try and enjoy this fish. It’s one of very common fish dish in Japan. My family loves it and it’s easy to cook (that’s the best part for me haha).
Hi, Nami! I finally got to try this, and I was very impressed with how the fish taste was negated, leaving a firm, tasty fish behind. I will definitely try it again! And yes, the ease is such a great thing about this.
Hi Jelly! So happy you tried and liked it! Thank you for stopping again here to leave me your feedback!
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