Shiso-Wrapped Sardines
This Izakaya staple is salty and fatty, fresh and minty, a little sour, and crispy as hell. Best served with mayonnaise, lemon, and a refreshing beverage!
Servings: 2 people
Equipment
- 1 Thermometer to measure the oil's temperature
- 1 spider skimmer or similar for removing the wraps from the oil
- 1 freezer bag for thawing sardines (optional)
- 1 fine-mesh strainer for sprinkling flour (optional)
- 1-2 ice cubes for the cold water (optional)
Ingredients
For the wraps
- 4 whole sardines
- 4 umeboshi
- 16 shiso leaves fresh
- 2 lemon slices
- Kewpie mayonnaise
- 250 g vegetable fat or 250 ml neutral oil
For the batter
- 65 g all-purpose flour plus a little more for dusting
- 14 g starch corn or potato
- 120 ml ice-cold water
Instructions
Prepare the fish
- If using frozen sardines, take them out of the freezer 20-30 minutes ahead of time. Fill a freezer bag with cold water and thaw the fish inside, closing it fully.
- Take out the sardines and fillet them. There are plenty of video tutorials for this online that will give you a better idea than my description ever could.
- Remove the pits from the umeboshi, then finely mince them.
- Evenly spoon the minced umeboshi on the sardine fillets.
- Add a line of Kewpie mayonnaise on top, running from one end to the other.
- Flatten and even out the toppings using a small spoon.
- Now cut each fillet in half using a sharp knife. You should have 8 pieces of fish per serving.
Assemble the rolls
- Lay out your fresh shiso leaves on a large surface.
- Put one piece of fish on each leaf (see picture above).
- Wrap the leaf around. Place the wraps on the seam side so they don't unroll.
- Sprinkle some all-purpose flour on the wraps using a fine-mesh sieve. Turn them around twice to cover both sides, ending with the seam side down again.
Prepare deep-frying
- Pre-heat your oven to ~75°C to keep your finished batches warm later.
- Heat up a small or mid-sized, heavy-set pan over high heat on the stove.
- Add the vegetable fat (or oil) and let it heat up to about 170° C.
- Meanwhile, put the ice-cold water into a medium-sized bowl. Ideally add an ice cube or two to keep it cold (deduct them from the weight).
- Add the all-purpose flour and starch to the bowl and mix. If not using umeboshi, add 0.25 tsp of salt per serving to the batter.
Deep-fry
- Repeat the following step for each batch. Do not overcrowd the pan, the wraps should not touch each other.
- Once the oil reaches 170°C, try to keep it there throughout the following steps.
- Dip a wrap into the batter, briefly shake off excess, then carefully transfer it to the oil.
- Repeat with each wrap of the batch.
- Deep-fry for about 6 minutes. After 1-2 minutes, start occasionally flipping the wraps. They should be lightly brown and super crispy when done.
- Remove the batch from the pan, shake off excess oil.
- Transfer it to a tray lined with paper towels and move it into the warm oven.
- Repeat for your remaining batches.
- Serve with some lemon slices and Kewpie mayo for dipping.