Japanese small plates

Three Japanese-inspired small plates perfect for relaxed sharing: stir-fried edamame beans with sesame and oyster sauce, delicate chikuwa fish cakes seasoned with shichimi togarashi, and crispy panko-coated ebi prawns served with zig-zag mayo and okonomiyaki sauces. Quick to prepare, impressive presentation, nut-free throughout.

Prep: less than 30 mins

Cook: 10 to 30 mins

Serves: Serves 4

Dietary: Nut-free

By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen Recipes

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Seafood provides protein while panko coating and sauces contribute moderate carbohydrate and fat content typical of lightly fried Japanese sharing dishes.

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Equipment

• Food processor 🛒 Check out Amazon’s Choice
• Deep fat fryer or deep saucepan
• Griddle pan
• Baking paper
• Wooden chopsticks or skewers
• Squeezy bottles (for sauces)

Method

Start with the sauces (5 minutes – get these done first)

These two sauces keep the presentation looking sharp and can actually be made several hours ahead if that helps your timing. They’re quick and give you that proper restaurant finish to the prawns.

1. Get the mayo sauce sorted first – just whisk together the Japanese mayonnaise, condensed milk, tomato ketchup, rice vinegar and that pinch of salt until everything’s smoothly combined. Pop it into a squeezy bottle ready for the zigzag action later.
2. Now for the okonomiyaki sauce – tip the tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, light soy and runny honey into a small saucepan. Give it a good stir over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes until it thickens up nicely, then let it cool down and into the second squeezy bottle it goes.

Edamame beans – your quick starter (8 minutes total)

This is the fastest dish to cook, so perfect to get on the table first while the other components finish up. Have your wok or frying pan heating up while the beans blanch.

3. Bring a big pan of well-salted water to a rolling boil, then drop in the edamame beans in their pods for just 2-3 minutes until they’re that lovely bright green colour and tender to bite. Drain them straight away – don’t let them sit in the water.
4. Heat up your sesame oil in a wok or medium saucepan over a medium flame, then toss in the drained edamame along with the oyster sauce, crushed garlic, finely chopped ginger and black pepper. Give everything a good stir-fry for a couple of minutes so the beans really soak up those flavours.
5. Tip them into a serving dish while still hot, scatter over the sesame seeds and thinly sliced red chilli, and serve straight away. These are best eaten warm as your first taste of the Japanese small plates.

Chikuwa fish cakes while oil heats (15 minutes)

The food processor makes this smooth paste in seconds, and you can shape them while your frying oil comes up to temperature for the prawns. These actually chill well if you want to get ahead.

6. Put the white fish fillets, egg white, cornflour, salt, caster sugar and sake into your food processor and blitz until you get a really smooth paste. If it looks a bit too wet to handle, just add cornflour a teaspoon at a time until it firms up nicely.
7. Scoop out 2-tablespoon portions onto some baking paper and gently spread them into thin rounds about 10cm across. Grab a chopstick or wooden skewer and roll each one up around it to make those classic chikuwa sausage shapes, then twist the paper ends to hold the shape while they firm up.
8. Get your griddle pan nice and hot with a light brush of vegetable oil, carefully unwrap the fish rolls and lay them on the griddle. Cook them 2-3 minutes each side until they’ve got beautiful criss-cross grill marks and are golden through. Dust with shichimi togarashi and keep warm on a plate covered with foil.

Crispy ebi prawns – cook these last (8 minutes)

Deep frying needs your full attention, so do these right at the end when everything else is ready to plate. Oil at 180°C gives perfect crunch without overcooking the prawns.

9. Heat your frying oil to 180°C – test it by dropping in a few panko breadcrumbs; they should sizzle straight away and turn golden in about 30 seconds. Have kitchen paper ready nearby for draining.
10. Set out two shallow bowls – one with Japanese mayonnaise, the other with panko breadcrumbs. Take each prawn by the tail, give it a light coating of mayo (keeping the tail dry), then press gently into the panko until completely covered. The light coating is key for that perfect crunch.
11. Fry the breaded prawns in batches for 2-3 minutes until deep golden brown all over. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper to drain any excess oil. Line them up neatly on your serving plate while still piping hot.
12. Finish with the sauces – squeeze both the mayo sauce and okonomiyaki sauce in zigzag lines across the lined prawns, then scatter over the shredded spring onions. That restaurant-style presentation is complete.

Bring it all together (2 minutes)

Your sharing feast is ready. Everything should be hot and the prawns still crisp.

13. Present the Japanese small plates together – arrange the steaming edamame dish alongside the warm chikuwa and that stunning ebi presentation. Pop everything on a sharing platter or individual small plates and serve right away so everyone gets the full hot-and-crisp experience.