Ishikari Nabe

Ingredients

• 600 g skin-on salmon fillet, cut into 5 cm pieces
• 200 g salmon collar or head pieces (optional, for flavour)
• 1 tsp fine salt, for curing the fish
• 1.2 litres water
• 15 g kombu
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 100 g miso (a mix of red and white if you have both)
• 300 g daikon, cut into 5 mm half-moons
• 1 carrot, cut into 5 mm half-moons
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 onion, cut into 1 cm wedges
• 400 g Chinese cabbage, cut into 4 cm pieces
• 200 g firm tofu, cut into 8 cubes
• 100 g shimeji or shiitake mushrooms, torn or sliced
• 1 Japanese leek (naga-negi), sliced on the diagonal
• 20 g butter
• 1 tsp sansho pepper, to finish

Before you cook

• Put the kombu in a large casserole with the 1.2 litres of water and leave it to soak for 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle the salmon pieces and collar with the teaspoon of salt and leave them for 15 minutes.
• Rinse the salted salmon under cold water and pat every piece thoroughly dry.
• Cut the daikon, carrot, potatoes, onion, cabbage, tofu, mushrooms and leek as listed and keep them in separate piles.

Steps

1. Set the casserole of kombu water over a medium heat and bring it slowly towards a simmer.
2. Lift out the kombu just before the water boils, so the broth stays clean rather than slippery.
3. Pour in the sake and mirin.
4. Add the daikon, carrot and potatoes, and simmer them for 8 minutes.
5. Stir half the miso through a ladleful of the hot broth until smooth, then tip it back into the pot.
6. Slide in the salmon collar pieces first and simmer for 4 minutes.
7. Skim off any grey foam that rises to the surface.
8. Add the salmon fillet pieces, the onion and the cabbage stems, and simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Tuck in the tofu, mushrooms and the leafy cabbage tops, and cook for another 4 minutes.
10. Turn the heat down until the broth stops bubbling, then dissolve the remaining miso into it the same way.
11. Scatter over the sliced leek and drop the butter into the centre of the pot.
12. Dust the surface with sansho pepper and carry the pot straight to the table.