I just love Teriyaki. It’s my favourite Japanese food by far. When I think of teriyaki, fond memories come flashing back of the good old days when I was studying for my Pharmacy exams at the medical library in Western Australia. During our lunch break, we would head off to this amazing local Japanese cafe and the queue would be out to the door. I would order my usual teriyaki chicken with rice and veggies and that fuels me up for the day.

This is my favourite homemade recipe. You will not want to buy bottled pre-made teriyaki sauce again!

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Salmon fillets

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or odourless coconut oil)

a few cloves of garlic crushed

a handful of chives or spring onions chopped

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Marinade

2 tablespoons sake (if you are avoiding alcohol, try apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar but the taste will not be the same)

4 teaspoons low salt soy sauce (can get gluten-free soya OR use coconut aminos instead of soy if eating Paleo)

Teriyaki sauce

5o MLS mirin

2 tablespoons low salt soya sauce (or coconut aminos for Paleo)

1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or other unrefined sugar or coconut nectar)

Directions

  • If you have time, marinate the fish in the marinade mix for 10-15 minutes
  • Make the teriyaki sauce by mixing/whisking it all together until the sugar is dissolved.
  • If not, just mix the marinade with the fish  & let it sit for 1-2 minutes.
  • Heat up a frying pan to medium/high heat and add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to a pan. Add the marinaded fish & garlic. Cook the fish (skin side down) for 5 minutes. Turn the fish and cook for another 1-2 minutes until it’s mostly cooked.
  • Add the teriyaki sauce in with the fish that is almost cooked and let the sauce simmer for 1 minute. This slowly thickens and caramelizes the sauce.
  • Turn heat down to low and allow the sauce to thicken while cooking the fish.
  • Note: if the heat is too high, the sauce will caramelise quickly and you might burn the sauce. Alternatively, you can cook the sauce separately but heating it up for a few minutes until it thickens then pour over the cooked fish.
  • Garnish with some chopped spring onions (and sesame seeds)
  • This recipe works for other meat or veggies as well
  • PALEO: use apple cider vinegar instead of sake, coconut aminos instead of soya sauce.
  • VEGAN: use tofu or veggies in place of meat (aubergines and zucchinis work well with this, beans etc)
  • SAKE: if you don’t have sake (Japanese wine), a bit of sherry or rum might work as substitutes.

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Ileana