Flounder Mizore-ni (Simmered in Grated Daikon)

Flounder Mizore-ni is a fried dish and also a simmered dish. Shallow-fried flounder is cooked in a soy-based simmering sauce with a plenty of grated daikon (white radish). The addition of soba noodles and simply adding a vegetable side dish makes it a complete meal.

The daikon makes this dish quite light even if the fish is fried. It looks like a difficult dish to cook, but it is quite simple to make.

About Mizore-ni

When ingredients are cooked in broth/simmering sauce with grated daikon (white radish), the dish becomes mizore-ni (みぞれ煮). ‘Mizore’ (みぞれ) means sleet and ‘ni’ (煮) is the noun form of the word for cooking, ‘niru’ (煮る). Because the grated daikon resembles sleet and it is cooked in the broth, the simmered dish with grated daikon is generically called mizore-ni.

My recipe Smoked Salmon with Grated Daikon Dressing is another dish that uses ‘mizore’. In this case, it is Mizore-ae as explained in this post.

Another dish using grated daikon is mizore nabe (hot pot cooked with grated daikon).

Mizore-ni is sometimes called oroshi-ni (おろし煮) because grated daikon is called ‘daikon oroshi‘ (大根おろし). So, Flounder Mizore-ni is also called Flounder oroshi-ni.

Grated daikon = ‘daikon oroshi’ .

When you cook fried fish in a soy-based simmering sauce, it completely changes the flavour and texture of the fish. Mizore-ni is such a dish and grated daikon makes it even better.

The sauce is very similar to the broth for Japanese noodle soup. So, I added a small amount of soba (buckwheat) noodles to accompany it. You can eat soba noodles with this sauce, just like Zaru Soba (Cold Soba Noodles).

The main ingredient of mizore-ni does not have to be fried, but it is usually deep-fried or sautéed.

Fish suited to Mizore-ni

I used flounder because I like the shape of the flounder and the texture of its flesh. The flesh of flounder is white and soft. It has a plain flavour as it hardly contains any fat. Accordingly, flounder is said to be a great source of protein for elderly people in Japan.

In some countries, flounder is also called flatfish, but the word ‘flatfish’ appears to be a generic name for fish that looks like flounder. It seems to include halibut, sole, and turbot, etc. You can use any of these flatfish species for Mizore-ni, but you don’t need to use an expensive fish such as halibut in Australia.

You can also use other white flesh fish with or without bones. Any non-oily white flesh fish is best suited for this. You can use cod, snapper, alfonsino, and ocean perch. to name a few. Then you will not call this dish Flounder Mizore-ni. You’d have to replace flounder with the name f the fish you use.

The cooked fish with bones in it is a bit tedious to eat but it keeps the shape of the fish well and the flavour of the fish is better. If you are using a fillet, you might find that the fish curls up when fried. This is because the skin shrinks when heated. The bone prevents the fish from curling.

What’s in my Flounder Mizore-ni

There aren’t many ingredients in this recipe in total. The simmering sauce is also made of only three ingredients.

• Flounder – head and tail removed, then halved.
• Flour
• Oil to shallow fry
• Grated daikon
• Chopped green onions for garnish

Simmering Sauce

• Dashi stock
• Soy sauce
• Mirin

My whole flounder was about 700g / 1.5lb. After removing the head and tail, then halved the fish, each piece was about 270g / 0.6lb.

When frying flounder, the fish is normally deep-fried, but I shallow-fried it to minimise the amount of oil used.

The proportion of Simmering Sauce ingredients is similar to that of Japanese noodle soup such as Tempura Udon, i.e. 300ml dashi stock + 2 tablespoons soy sauce + 1½ tablespoons mirin.

How to make Flounder Mizore-ni

I posted another flounder recipe Simmered Flounder (Karei no Nitsuke), which is also cooked in a simmering sauce. In the case of Flounder Mizore-ni, you need to shallow fry the fish, then simmer the fried fish in the sauce with grated daikon.

1. Cook buckwheat noodles, rinse, and drain.
2. Shallow fry the flounder pieces.
3. Bring the Simmering Sauce to a boil.
4. Add the fish to the sauce. Cook for 30 seconds.
5. Add grated daikon and cook 30-60 seconds.
6. Place the Flounder Mizore-ni on a deep plate/shallow bowl with the buckwheat noodles on the side. Sprinkle the chopped shallots over the fish.

Since the fish is already cooked by shallow frying it, you only need to heat up the simmering sauce after adding the fish and the grated daikon.

My Flounder Mizore-ni is a two-in-one dish. You get to enjoy the delicious flounder as a main meal and at the same time, the soba noodles take the place of the rice in a normal meal set.

When I make Flounder Mizore-ni, I usually add a vegetable dish to go with it and perhaps a bowl of soup so that just three dishes can make a complete meal.

Yumiko

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Flounder Mizore-ni (Simmered in Grated Daikon)

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

The fish is fried and cooked in a sweet soy-based broth with lots of grated daikon (white radish). You will find that the combination of fried fish and the sauce with daikon is wonderful. You can cook with other fish fillets suited to deep frying.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: flounder recipe, simmered fish, soba noodle

Serves: 2

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 50g / 1.8oz dried buckwheat noodles
• 1 mid-size whole flounder (about 700g / 1.5lb, note 1)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 150-180g / 5.3-6.3oz daikon (white radish) finely grated, excess water drained (note 2)
• Oil to shallow fry fish

Simmering Sauce

• 300ml / 0.6pt dashi stock
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin

Garnish

• 2-3 tbsp shallots finely chopped

Instructions

1. If the flounder is not cleaned, remove the guts and scales. Cut the head and the tail off and discard. Cut the flounder in half, perpendicular to the backbone (note 3).

2. Make a cross incision on the right side of the fish (brown side) where the flesh is the thickest (see the photo in post). If you are using narrow strips of flounder cutlet, incision is not required.

3. Boil buckwheat noodles as per the instructions on the packet. Drain and rinse well under running water to remove the sliminess and to let the noodles cool down (note 4). Drain and put aside.

4. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. The amount of the oil should be enough to cover slightly more than the half thickness of the fish piece.

5. Pat dry the fish pieces with paper towel, sprinkle the flour over the fish and dust both sides of the fish pieces with flour. In the case of the head side of the fish piece, dust the cavity of the belly with the flour as well.

6. Place the fish in the oil, dark skin side down. Shake the pan so that the fish does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. Cook for 2.5 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the fish over and cook further 1.5 minutes. Remove the fish pieces and place onto the paper towel to drain excess oil.

8. In a frying pan or a shallow pot large enough to place the fish pieces side by side, add the Simmering Sauce ingredients and bring it to a boil.

9. Place the fried fish pieces in the sauce without overlapping. Cook for 30 seconds, then spread the grated daikon over and cook for about 30 seconds to bring the sauce to a boil again. Daikon does not have to be all submerged into the sauce. Turn the heat off.

10. Place fish onto a plate using the spatula. Scoop the sauce with as much daikon as possible with a spoon and pour it over the fish.

11. Place the noodles on the side and sprinkle shallots over the fish.

Recipe Notes

1. If your flounder is very small, you can use two whole flounder. You can also use narrow strips of large flounder. 

You can use other fish fillets that are good for frying. Please see the post for suggested alternatives.

2. Depending on the amount of water in the daikon, the quantity of daikon after the water is drained might vary. It does not matter much but too much water in daikon makes the sauce thin.

3. My halved fish pieces were about 270g / 0.6lb each.

4. It is important to wash cooked noodles under running water to remove the starch around the noodles. The noodles are also tightened up under cold water, which gives a good texture when you munch. It is a kind of al dente in pasta terms.