Anchovies in sweet vinegar イワシの南蛮

This is the second dish I made from the frozen "iwashi" イワシ anchovies. This is a standard "Nanban" 南蛮. The sweet vinegar cut the oiliness and fishiness of the anchovies and this is a very good dish.

Since I found Japanese "shishitou" 獅子唐芥子 at our near-by Whole foods, I added one, simply fried, as a garnish.

Ingredients:
Frozen (or fresh, if available) anchovy filets, thawed, three, cut into two making six pieces.
Potato starch for dredging
Peanuts or vegetable oil for deep frying
Celery (2 stalks), carrot (1 small), and sweet onion (1 small) cut into small strips (julienne)

For sweet vinegar marinade
Rice vinegar 1/2 cup
Japanese dashi 1/2 cup
Sugar 1/4 cup
Salt, a pinch
Light colored soy sauce, 1/2 tsp
Dried Japanese red pepper, 1 whole,

Directions:
Before starting to fry the fish, I prepared the vegetables and sweet vinegar.

I placed the ingredients for sweet vinegar in a sauce pan and heated it until the sugar melted. I let it simmer for 5 minutes and then let it cool to room temperature.
I added the julienned of vegetables.
I removed the whole Japanese hot pepper and sliced it into small rings removing the seeds for the garnish. (I did this in the morning and kept it in the refrigerator until I was ready to deep fry the fish).

I dried the fillets and dredged them in potato starch and deep fried them for 3 -4 minutes turning once in 350F oil,  drained it on a paper towel (see below).

While the fish was hot, I placed it in the sweet vinegar and covered the fish with the vegetables (see below). You can enjoy immediately or keep it in the refrigerator for later.

For this type of strong flavored fish, "nanban" is a good preparation. We enjoyed this with cold sake.

Aji 3 ways 2nd version 鯵3種類第二弾

This is the second time I got frozen "aji" or jack mackerel and decide to make three appetizers like I did before. I thought one had to be namerou なめろう(left) but I used a different kind of miso which made it quite different from the one I made previously. I also made "nanban" 南蛮 (middle) and "goma-saba" 胡麻鯖 (right). I served this in some newly acquired small bowls. 

The picture below is "goma-saba" which is a similar combination of flavors to the one I made before but because of the way it was cut and the additional topping, it looked and tasted different.

This is "nanban". The fish was deep fried first and marinated in spicy sweet vinegar.

Finally, our favorite "namerou". This time I made

 it with "red miso" or aka-miso 赤味噌.

Fish preparation:

After I thawed the package of "Aji" or jack mackerel in the refrigerator overnight, I washed it in cold water and blotted it dry between paper towels. I saturated a sheet of paper towel with rice vinegar and placed the fish fillets on the towel then covered them with another sheet of paper towel. I sprinkled rice vinegar on the top towel until it was saturated and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. This time, instead of cutting off the center, I removed the small bones from the center line using a Japanese bone tweezers.

1. Gama-saba 胡麻鯖 or Goma-aji (胡麻鯵).

This preparation is famous in Fukuoka which is located in the southernmost island of Kyushu. Although the fish I used may not be exactly same as "ma-saba" マサバ, it is close enough considering my limited supply of fish of any kind. The flavor profile is very similar to what I made before (marinated in soy sauce and then covered with roasted white sesame seeds) but the way the fish was sliced and the premixed sauce made a difference. The sauce is a mixture of dry roasted and ground up white sesame seeds (1 tbs), soy sauce 2 tbs) and mirin 2 tbs). The fish was cut into thin strips and marinaded in the sauce for 15 minutes in the refrigerator. I garnished it with thin nori strips, julienne of perilla leaves and roasted sesame seeds.

2. Aji anaban 鯵の南蛮

I made it exactly the same as the other nanban dishes. I first prepared sweet vinegar marinade (2/3 cup sweet vinegar, 1/4 dashi broth, mirin and light colored soy sauce (1 tbs each) and red pepper flakes. I  added julienne of sweet onion, celery, and carrot while the marinade was still warm and let it marinate until I was ready to fry the fish. I blotted the fish fillets dry and dredged with potato starch and fried in oil. While the fish was hot, I placed it in the marinade and made sure the fish was covered with marinade and vegetables.

3. Aji namerou 鯵のなめろう

I chopped fish, red miso, perilla leaves, scallion together. I also added small amount of mirin to adjust the consistency and also the taste. I served it with perilla flower buds or "ho jiso" 穂ジソ since they were available in our herb garden.

All three dishes are great for cold sake. The namerou was a bit on the salty side since I used red miso but had a nice nutty miso flavor which is better than the kouji miso I used before. The nanban was also very good. The fried potato starch crust became soft and gave rise to a nice texture. We liked the goma-saba preparation a bit better than "goma-mabush" I made previously. I'm sure our new Arita-kirn 有田焼 bowls added an additional "something" to our enjoyment of the dishes.

Sushi Taro Michelin ☆ Part 3, すし太郎 ミシュラン☆ その3

Chef Masaya asked if we would like soba. We know he is passionate about soba and actually makes it by hand out of pure buckwheat flour which is extremely difficult. In turn, we are passionate about the results of his labor. We particularly remember the 100% buckwheat soba 十割蕎麦 that came with the last years Osechi box 御節箱.  For this dinner he gave us a choice of warm or cold dipping sauce. After some indecision, I chose warm and my wife chose cold. I asked for only a small amount which, of course, Masaya knew without our asking. 

While it took some time to prepare the soba, he served us a wonderful Japanese snow crab or "Zuwai-gani" ズワイガニ stuffed in it's own shell with roe or "uchiko" 内子 to share. This is a real delicacy harvested from the cold waters of the sea of Japan in winter. The last time, we visited "Maguro Ganchi" まぐろがんち(a restaurant specialized in "maguro" = tuna and "Ganchi" = crab in the local dialect) in Kanazawa, 金沢, we could not have zuwai-gani crab since it was out of season. I really should have taken a picture of Chef Masaya's crab dish but I was too busy enjoying it. This was served with a very special sauce; Jalapeno pepper infused soy sauce. We really liked this unique sauce. It had a nice fresh Jalapeno flavor without much heat, which went so well with the sweet succulent crab meat. My wife, who never in her life would have entertained the concept of imbibing soy sauce, in a surprise move upended the dipping dish and finished what remained in one draught-- it was that good. (I'm hoping Chef Masa was not looking).

Then came the soba in a shared portion. To our surprise, he served cold and hot dipping sauces for both of us. The cold sauce had nice "sudachi" すだちcitrus flavor and the hot sauce had a duck meat with the skin grilled and caramelized. It included grilled Tokyo scallion ("Kamonanba" 鴨南蛮 style). The soba had such a nice texture and fresh flavor. Both were excellent but I particularly liked kamo-nanban style dipping sauce. It was rich with tremendous umami. Once again my wife could not resist going for the sauce. With evident reluctance, however, she restrained herself from draining the bowl.  We really appreciated tasting Chef Masaya's handmade soba.

At this point, we were quite full but when offered, who could refuse dessert?  One was a very delicate green tea custard or "maccha purin" 抹茶プリン and the other was "anmitsu ice cream monaka" with shiratama  白玉餡蜜アイスクリーム最中. Again, I was too busy digging into the desserts to take pictures. I never got a snap of the maccha purin and as you can see in the picture below I remembered to take a picture of the ice cream monaka only after it was half finished. It was a clever hydrid of "monaka" (a very traditional Japanese sweet, light crunchy shell filled with sweetened red bean paste),  "anmitsu" ("shiratma" 白玉  rice flour dumpling, sweet red bean paste with sweet sauce). This combination really worked. Despite our being so full at this point, we shared and finished both desserts without a problem. 

As usual, we so enjoyed the evening. This is something which should be experienced at least once. But once we experienced it, we found we have to come back again and again. Every thing was exquisite. All the unique flavors remain as lasting taste memories; the unctuous taste of the chutoro, for example. All the chef's attention, details, seasonality, and new innovation without totally deviating from a classic Japanese cuisine are indeed worth much more than one Michelin star to us.

Chicken kara-age and lotus root nanban 鶏の唐揚げピリ辛南蛮漬け

I bought bone-in chicken thighs one weekend, thinking I would make something with it but it did not happen. A week later, when I checked the chicken, it was still good (some chicken we buy at our grocery store goes bad very quickly). So I decide to try this recipe which I saw on-line. It is essentially chicken nanban 鳥の南蛮漬けwith some interesting variations.

The marinade is a bit more assertive than my usual marinade for nanban but the high acidity cut through the oiliness of the fried chicken. The crispy renkon slices were also nice but, next time I will not marinade the renkon chips because they became soggy. I'll serve them crispy on the side.

For onions, I used Vidalia onion.

The marinade clung to the crust on the chicken which created an interesting surface that delivered layers of flavor.

Ingredients (4 servings):

Chicken thighs, 4, deboned and excess skin and fat removed. Cut into a bite sized pieces.

Seasoning for chicken; Soy sauce  (1 tbs), sake (1 tbs) and roasted sesame oil (1 tsp)

Potato starch for dredging 

Oil for frying ( I used peanut oil)

Renkon (Lotus root), one package cleaned and boiled. cut into thin (2-3mm thick) rounds, excess moisture blotted out using paper towel.

For Marinade:

Lemon juice (2tbs), rice vinegar (2tbs), soy sauce (2 tbs)

Dried small Japanese hot red pepper (赤唐辛子), seeds removed, 2

Sugar (2 tsp)

Garlic, grated 1/2 tsp

Ginger, grated 1/2 tsp

Black pepper for taste

Onion, one small, halved, then sliced thinly, salted and kneaded and left for 5 minutes and then soaked in water (I used filtered water) for 10 minutes, drained and moisture squeezed out

Directions:

1. I placed the chicken in a Ziploc bag, added the seasonings, massaged it, and removed as much air as I could and let it marinade for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. I mixed all ingredients for the marinade and added the onion in a flat sealable container.

3. Fried the renkon rounds in 350F oil for 1 minutes each side or until the renkon rounds got brown and crispy (it is a great snack as is with some salt, see below).

3. I removed the chicken and blotted the excess moisture from the surface. I dredged it with potato starch or katakur-ko 片栗粉 and fried in 350F oil (I used a shallow frying method. Some believe, this method will let the moisture evaporate more easily and make a crispy surface but I did it just because it uses less oil). This time I double fried the chicken using a higher temperature for the second frying but this is probably not necessary. Of course, we snacked on the chicken immediately after it came out of the oil and hit the draining rack.

4. I added the fried chicken and renkon to the marinade while they were hot and gently mixed (I just turned the sealable container upside down to make sure the marinade make contact with all the surfaces.)

This is a good dish, although frying the chicken is a bit of work. I will definitely not put the renkon chips in the marinade next time to keep them crispy. This dish will go well with beer or cold sake but the marinade is too acidic for wine.

P.S. Few days later, I served the remaining chicken with renkon chips which were not soaked in the marinade. The renkon chips were crisp and much better than the marinated soggy chips. Then, my wife said we should enjoy the chicken and renkon separately. I agree. The renkon chips are a great snack by them selves and we do not see the point of combining them with chicken nanban.

Salmon nanban 鮭の南蛮漬け

For my New Year's salmon dishes, I bought the entire side of a salmon which was rather large.  (It was very reasonably priced.) I made all the following dishes from just that one side: Russian marinated salmon, 鮭のロシア漬け, salmon fry 鮭のフライ, salmon panfried which I finished in the oven (2 servings) 鮭の塩焼き, belly portion marinated and grilled 鮭のハラスの柚庵焼き (2 good servings as an appetizer) and then I made this fried salmon marinated in sweet vinegar or salmon nanban 鮭の南蛮漬け to finish all the salmon--it went a long way. This is a variation on the theme of other nanaban 南蛮 dishes in which I used sardines, shishamo, and chicken.

Below on the left is the salmon nanban and on the right is the Russian marinated salmon garnished with salmon roe.

Here is a close up with one piece of salmon covered with marinated carrot, onion and celery.

This was another day, you can see the celery and salmon better.

Ingredients:

Salmon: skin and bone removed cut into eight 1/2 inch thick large bite sized pieces.

Flour: for dredging

Salt and peper:

Carrot: Two small, peeled and cut into julienne.

Sweet onion: One medium, cut into small strips

Celery: 2 ribs, cut into julienne.

For marinade:

Dashi broth: 1/2 cup (made from dashi pack with kelp and bonito).

Rice Vinegar:1/2 cup

Sugar: 1/4 cup (or 4 tbs)

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Light colored soy sauce 2 tbs

Japanese whole dried red pepper: 1

Yuzu juice: a dash if you have it.

Directions:

I made the marinade first. In a small sauce pan, I added all the ingredients except for the yuzu juice and gently warmed it up to dissolve the sugar and then simmered it for a few more minutes. I let it cool down to room temperature. I fished out the dried red pepper and cut it into small rings and returned it to the marinade. I added a splash of yuzu juice but it is optional. (I used one from the bottle since I do not have fresh yuzu fruit or juice). I added the julienned vegetables and let it sit for several hours.

I seasoned the salmon pieces with salt and pepper. Dredged them in flour and deep fried in 350F oil for 1-2 minutes turning once. I drained the excess oil and immediately submerge the salmon pieces in the marinade and covered them with the marinating vegetables.

We could have eaten it immediately but I let it to marinate until the next day in the refrigerator.

This is a just variation of nanban dishes and I like the one with small fish best but salmon is not bad at all. Because of the vegetable marinated with the salmon, it is almost like a salad. We enjoyed this dish for the next 5 days with the other new year osechi dishes 御節料理.

Unboxing Sushi Taro Osechi Box すし太郎の御節重箱

Again this year,  we got an osechi box 御節重箱 from Sushi Taro すし太郎. In addition to the box, we also got hand-cut "Juwari-soba" 手打ち十割そば for "Toshikoshi soba" or "End-of-the-year soba" 年越し蕎麦 and even a desert. The desert was a Japanese style black bean steamed bread with "maccha" green tea 抹茶 and white sweet bean paste (I may be wrong just a guess, see the last picture).  This was how unwrapping and unboxing went on new year's eve.

The menu is in both Japanese and English. The soba and steamed bread are not listed on the menu.

The upper box looked like this (picture below). All the "good luck" new year foods and more. Miso marinated kazunoko 数の子の味噌漬け, and baby mackerel nanban 豆鯵南蛮漬け were among some of the new items this year. I have never tasted miso-marinated kazunoko. It had a nice sweet nutty flavor. This one also had a really nice crunchy texture.

This was the lower box (picture below). Among the simmered dishes simmered conch/whelk バイ貝の柔らか煮 was new and very good. This year's daikon namasu 大根なます included sweet dried persimmon. This combination is also a first for me and the sweetness and soft texture of the persimmon created a good contrast. (I made a more traditional daikon namasu, myself, this year).

The plate below shows the first serving of the new year's eve feast. Everything was good as we sipped cold sake. The monk fish liver terrine あん肝豆腐 (front row second from the left) was our favorite as before. But everything on the plate was a treat. 

And we went back for seconds. The version of matsukaze-yaki 松風焼き (square chicken loaf) was sherry flavored. Indeed, we could taste the sherry and it was a pleasing variation. This year, we ourselves tried a variation on matsukaze-yaki including one with dried fig and Gorgonzola cheese (subject for future post). The daikon namasu  with dried persimmon 干し柿 is shown on the right in the back), we really liked it 

Although I was thinking about serving the soba as an ending dish or "shime" 〆 we had to pass on it because we were quite full. (We never seem to be able to eat soba on new year's eve for the same reason every year--too full). 

On the second day of the new year, we had the soba. We knew Chef Kitayama 北山料理長 was into making hand-cut "Juwari" soba from 100% buckwheat flour without any binders or "tsunagi" つなぎ such as wheat flour or mountain yam. "Juwari soba" is indeed the pinnacle of soba making prowess that only a real soba master can accomplish. His soba was just such an accomplishment. It was slightly thicker than usual soba, but had a more delicate texture with subtle soba flavor. I made warm soba with cooked vegetables or shippoku soba しっぽくそば but in the haste of enjoying it before the soba got soggy, I completely forgot to take a picture. The soba was fantastic. But I did take a picture of his steamed bread or "mushi pan" 蒸しパン which we had as a dessert with our short-drawn espresso (green beans are from Sweet Marias, Espresso Workshop#37 blend, home roasted to full city roast).

This was a perfect combination. Although I am sure green tea instead of espresso could also have been an excellent accompaniment, the contrast of the coffee really accentuated the flavor of green tea in the bread. This was indeed an elegant desert.

Sardines escabeche イワシの南蛮漬け

This is the second dish I made from some fresh sardines we got. For this dish, I used two sardines. This is a classic preparation of "Nanban" 南蛮 or Japanese-style escabeche. Essentially, the fish was first fried and then soaked in sweet vinegar with other vegetables.

Preparation of sardines: For this dish, I decided to use filets rather than the bone-in whole fish. After scaling the fish, I filleted them into three layers; two fillets of fish flesh and one layer of back bone. In Japanese culinary parlance, this is called "san-mai oroshi" 三枚下ろし. I use my own quick way to do this which is more like the Western style of filleting fish than the more traditional Japanese way.  Using  a narrow-bladed boning or fillet knife (instead of more traditional "deba" knife), I cut across just under the gills until the blade hit the back bone (do not cut through). Then, I turned the blade, 90 degree towards the tail and sliced off the fillet along the back bone. I do not even bother to gut the fish beforehand. I turned the fish over and repeated. I ended up with two fillets and the head with back bone attached (hence "san-mai" or three "sheets").  Using a fish bone tweezers, I remove all visible small bones especially inside the belly portion of the fish (this is very tedious). I also cut off some of the edges. After that, I washed and patted the fillets dry. I seasoned them with salt and white pepper and sprinkled sake over everything and kept them in the refrigerator covered until I was ready to cook (#1 in the image below).

Sweet vinegar: Again there are many variations but, this time,  I used my short-cut method. I just mixed rice vinegar (3 tbs), soy sauce (3 tbs) mirin (2 tbs)  and sugar (1/2 tsp). I also added two dried hot peppers cut into small rings (removing the seeds).

Vegetables: I julienned carrot (one small) and celery (two stalks) in a slightly larger than match stick size. I also sliced Vidalia onion (1/2, medium). I like my vegetables to be "cured" so I added and soaked the vegetables several hours at room temperature in sweet vinegar in a sealed container.

Frying: I removed the excess sake on the fish filetts using a paper towel and dredged them in potato starch or "katakuriko" 片栗粉. I deep fried the fish in 170F or 340C vegetable oil for several minutes on both sides. I drained the excess oil by resting the fish on a wire rack (I use a small frying pan with just half inch of oil. I will not reuse this oil since the sardines make it taste "fishy").

Meanwhile, I removed the vegetables from the sweet vinegar and arranged them on two plates (#4 above). While hot, I soaked the fillets in the sweet vinegar and turned them over several times to coat nicely (#3 above). I placed the fillets over the vegetables and garnished them with finely julienned ginger and perilla leaves (#4).

It turned out that the red pepper I used (bought it in a Japanese grocery store) was atomically hot. Especially the vegetables got really spicy. The fish was nicely crunchy with a sweet vinegar taste. No need to worry about bones because of the preparation I did. For me, the spiciness was the higher boundary of "OK" but, for my wife, it was too much especially for the vegetables but she finished the fish with gusto. the only drink we can think of is cold sake for this dish.

Fried shishamo in sweet vinegar 揚げシシャモの甘酢漬け

This is a variation of "nanban" 南蛮, which is deep fried fish or meat marinated in sweet vinegar with red (hot) pepper and vegetable such as onion. Small fish such as "aji" 鯵 or Japanese jack mackerel is most commonly used but I posted one with chicken breast previously. Since I can not easily get aji, I used frozen "shishamo" シシャモ instead. This is a perfect small Izakaya dish which goes perfectly with sake.

Shishamo: I used the usual frozen kind (Capelin or "karafuto" shishamo). All had nice roe inside. Without defrosting, I dredged in potato flour and fried it in 370F peanut oil (I used the shallow frying technique) turning once for 5-7 minutes. After draining off the excess oil, I immediately soaked it in sweet vinegar marinade (see below).

Sweet vinegar: Sweet vinegar or "amazu" 甘酢 can be made ahead. It keeps a long time in the refrigerator. I put rice vinegar in a non-reactive (such as stainless steel or Pyrex) pan on low flame and added sugar (half the amount of vinegar, either by volume or weight, for example, one cup of vinegar and 1/2 of sugar) and a small amount (I used 1/3 tsp but could be more) salt. Stir and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved and let it come to a boil (called "nikiru" 煮きる), this makes the vinegar mellow. Let it cool down and put it in a plastic or glass container and keep it in the refrigerator. This can be used for many other recipes.

Marinade: I mixed sweet vinegar (2/3 cup), dashi (1/4 cup), mirin and soy sauce (1 tbs each). I added thinly sliced red onion and julienne carrot the night before. You can do this part a few days ahead. I like the veggies to marinated at least several hours or longer. To make it truly "nanban" you add red pepper flakes but I did not this time.

While the fried shishamo is still hot, I put it in the marinade with the vegetables already in. I cover the fish with marinated vegetables and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes or longer. I served it with the vinegared onion and carrot on the top.

We had this with cold sake (our house sake Yaegaki "mu"). I think sake or beer will go with this dish well but the acidity of the dish does not agree with wine. Of course every part of the fish  including head, bone and tail is eaten in this dish. "Waste not want not" never tasted so good.

Duck "Nanban" Soba 鴨南蛮

When I made the Japanese-style chicken escabeche, which is called "Nanban" 南蛮 or Southern Barbarian, I mentioned another totally unrelated soba noodle and duck dish called "Kamo Nanban" 鴨南蛮. Since I had leftover roasted duck breast after I served duck breast with orange marmalade sauce one weekend, I decided to make an abbreviated version of "Kamo nanban" on a following weekday evening.

As I mentioned before, Japanese think "duck" and "negi scallion" are the ultimate culinary paring and this dish is usually made of grilled and charred, Japanese or Tokyo scallion or "naga negi" 長葱 in addition to duck meat. 

Negi Scallion: Since I did not have a Japanese "Negi" scallion, I used a wedge of onion. I cooked it slowly in a frying pan with a bit of light olive oil, turning over once or twice for 10 minutes or until nice char marks developed on both sides and the onion is cooked.

Broth: I used one "dashi pack (The one I used had kelp and dried bonito, but no dried fish)" in water (about 1.5 cups) and simmered for 5 minutes to make dashi. Any dashi, including instant granulated ones, will do. I added mirin (1tbs) and soy sauce (2 tbs to taste, I could have added more in retrospect). I kept it just barely simmering or hot.

Duck breast: The leftover duck breast had nicely browned skin and was cooked to medium rare. I cut thinly (1/4 inch) and then dusted the pieces with potato starch, katakuriko 片栗粉. I placed each piece in the simmering broth (above) for 20-30 seconds so that the starch cooks into a slightly slippery coating on the surface of the meat.  It also very slightly thickens the broth. if I was cooking the duck from scratch, I would cook the skin side only in a frying pan rendering as much fat as possible while making the skin brown following the first step of my usual way of cooking the duck breast. Instead of finishing the duck in the oven, I would slice the meat and cook it in the broth as descried above for a slightly longer time. You can omit the potato starch, if you do not like the slippery texture.

Soba noodle: I just used dried soba and cooked as per the package instruction, washed in running water, drained and placed in the center of an individual serving bowl.

Assembly: In the bowl with soba noodle on the bottom, I added the broth, and arranged the onion and duck meat as seen above. I garnished it with chopped green onion. Just before eating, I sprinkled 7 flavored Japanese red pepper powder 七味唐辛子.

Up until this point, we were enjoying Orin-Swift "The Prisoner" 2009 (Zin and Cab mix). It was certainly a good wine but it is not as good as the prior vintages and we prefer "Papillon" 2007 (Bordeaux blend with predominant Cab) from the same winery.  But this dish cries out for sake and we obliged. I should have added a bit more soy sauce to the broth but otherwise it was a very nice dish and indeed went very well with cold sake.

We also enjoyed stewed "Kabocha" squash. As before this one was sold as "Butter cup" squash but I believe this is identical to a Japanese "Kabocha".

Chicken breast "nanban", Escabeche Japanese style 鶏胸肉の南蛮

The type of Japanese dish in which fish or meat is first fried and then dressed in a sweet and slightly spicy vinegary sauce is called "nanban" 南蛮. The word "nanban" literally means "southern barbarians". (No offense to the people who used to be classified as "southern barbarians" 南蛮人 by Japanese). Hot red peppers are sometimes called "nanban" indicating they may have come through the southern trade to Japan, in addition, at least two totally different types of Japanese dishes carry the name "nanban". One dish is very similar to escabeche (which is the dish posted here) and it may be that the Portuguese brought this dish to Japan along with Tempura while trading in Nagasaki 長崎, located in Kyushu 九州, the southernmost (main) island of Japan, during the Edo 江戸 period. Another is the noodle and duck dish, "kamo nanban" 鴨南蛮.  One theory why this dish is called "nanban" is that this dish also features Japanese scallions or "negi" 葱 and the place near Oosaka 大阪 called "nanba" 難波 used to be famous for its production of "negi". Thus, this dish was originally called "Kamo Nanba" 鴨難波, which somehow became "kamo nanban" but I have no idea if this is correct.

In any case, this Japanese style escabeche or nanban, is best when you use small bony fish. Deep frying and marinating in vinegar makes all the bones edible. The reason I made this dish is two fold; I found a tall bottle of a good quality (made of 100% rice) rice vinegar more than half used on the uppermost shelf of our pantry (since it did not fit to the shelf where I keep the rest of the Japanese items, I totally forgot about it--"out of sight out of mind") and I also discovered that I had chicken breasts which I bought last weekend and they had to be cooked quickly.

Sweet vinegar: "Amazu" 甘酢 can be made ahead. It keeps a long time in the refrigerator. I put the aforementioned rice vinegar (it was about 1 and a half cups) in a non-reactive (such as stainless steel or Pyrex) pan on low flame and added sugar (half the amount of vinegar, either by volume or weight) and a small amount (I used 1/2 tsp but could be more) salt. Stir and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved and let it come to boil (called "nikiru" 煮きる), this makes the vinegar mellow. Let it cool down and put it in a plastic or glass container and keep it in the refrigerator. This can be used for many other recipes.

Marinade: I use 2/3 cup of sweet vinegar for one chicken breast. I add dashi (1/4 cup), mirin and soy sauce (1 tbs each). Put it in a sealable flat container to be ready for receiving the chicken.

Chicken: I make thin bite size pieces from one skinless, boneless breast by cutting across the grain of the meat on a slant. I season it with soy sauce and grated ginger (just enough to coat the meat pieces but no extra liquid should remain) and coat each piece of meat by mixing by hand and let it sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature.

Dredging: I use potato starch or katakurko 片栗粉. This creates a nice even crust which does not come off easily and also produces a nice slippery surface after the cooked chicken is soaked in the vinegar marinade.

Frying: I again used shallow frying at 170C (340F). Since the meat is thin, it takes 1-2 minutes on each side and comes out very crispy but meat becomes kind of dry but that is OK. It is good to eat as is (which we did). It is quite different from the chicken thigh tatsutaage 竜田揚げ and it is very good in its own right.

Marinating: While the chicken pieces are still hot, add them to the sweet vinegar marinade. I also add thinly sliced red onion, julienned carrot, and red pepper flakes. You should add as much vegetables as you like or the marinade can accommodate. They are very good after pickling. I marinade them at least overnight or longer in the refrigerator.

The end result is quite nice. It is a very interesting melding of flavors. The frying cuts the acid of the sweet vinegar and the vinegar cuts the oiliness of the frying. The result is a refreshing dish with real depth. In addition, over time the chicken picks up the flavor of the vegetables with which it is sharing the marinade. The texture of the chicken is nice because the crust from the frying is still intact but develops a nice slippery or smooth surface (but not slimy, for those who have slime-o-phobia). The pickled vegetables are a nice accompaniment. Beer or sake may be a safer pairing but we had this with a Cali cab, Louis.M.Martini Cab Sauv, Alexander valley, Reserve 2007*. This wine has a nice earthy overtone with good firm tannin and went surprisingly well with this dish. The acid in this dish appears not to compete with this wine.

*P.S. Even after it was bought out by Gallo, Louise.M.Martini keeps making reasonably priced good quality wines, we liked their Napa cab and this reserve from Alexander valley (regular cab from Sonoma is so-so). Ghost pine, which is one of the Gallo's numerous brands but made by L.Martini, is also good.