A simple, glossy Japanese sauce with a salty-tangy profile, built around miso, soy sauce, and lemon. Serve it in small amounts to coat tofu, steamed vegetables, grilled fish, or hot rice.
Ingredients
- 80 g Japanese white miso
- 45 ml naturally fermented Japanese soy sauce
- 45 ml fresh yellow lemon juice
- 30 ml Japanese mirin
- 15 ml Japanese rice vinegar
- 12 g fine blond sugar
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 30 ml hot water
- 8 g fresh ginger
Method
- Juice the lemon and strain the juice to remove the seeds and thick pulp; the sauce should remain smooth and glossy.
- Peel the ginger and grate it very finely. Squeeze the grated pulp between your fingers or in a small strainer to collect mostly the fragrant juice and avoid a fibrous texture.
- Put the white miso in a heatproof bowl. Gradually add the soy sauce, whisking from the center: the miso should loosen into a supple paste before becoming fluid.
- Add the mirin, rice vinegar, sugar, and ginger juice. Whisk until the sugar no longer crunches under the whisk and the surface becomes satin-like.
- Gradually pour in the hot water, whisking constantly. The heat should be sufficient to loosen the miso, but the sauce must never boil; it should coat the back of a spoon in a thin, even layer.
- Add the lemon juice last to preserve its fresh aroma. Taste: the sauce should be umami-rich and salty first, then lively, with clear but non-aggressive acidity.
- Drizzle in the toasted sesame oil, whisking until it is barely floating on the surface. The sauce should be homogeneous, glossy, and slightly thick.
- Let the sauce rest at room temperature for a few minutes before serving, so the miso can hydrate fully and the flavors can meld. Whisk again just before coating.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 103.3 kcal
- Protein
- 3.42 g
- Carbohydrate
- 13 g
- Fat
- 3.74 g
- Fibre
- 1.37 g
- Calcium
- 17.19 mg
- Iron
- 0.65 mg
- Magnesium
- 20.21 mg
