By mincing sashimi quality tuna, you will experience quite a different texture of tuna. Negitoro Don is a simple dish, made by placing Negitoro (Minced Raw Tuna), green onions, and kizami nori on rice. A slightly sweet soy-based tare (sauce) is perfect for Negitoro Don.
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.
- 150g/5.3oz tuna (sashimi quality, note 1)
- 150g/5.3oz rice
- 1 perilla leaf (optional)
- 1½ tbsp green onion finely chopped
- Kizami nori
- Wasabi
- ½ tbsp cooking sake
- ½ tbsp mirin
- 1 tsp sugar (note 2)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/3 tsp dashi powder
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Put all the Tare ingredients in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.
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Let it cool to at least room temperature.
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Chop tuna into small pieces and make a flat pile of the fish pieces on the cutting board.
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Use a knife to mince them into very fine pieces, by simply dropping a blade onto the pile of fish pieces many times. Use two knives if you wish.
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Put rice in a serving bowl, levelling the surface.
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If you are using a perilla leaf, place the leaf on the side of the rice so that the bottom half of the leaf is on the rice.
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Spread the minced tuna over the rice, covering the rice and the bottom half of the perilla leaf.
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Scatter the green onions over the tuna, then pile the kizami nori in the centre.
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Place wasabi on the perilla leaf (if using), or directly on the tuna.
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Pour the Tare evenly over the tuna.
1. The real Negitoro is made from the fresh tuna meat scraped from the bones and the skin. Since it is very difficult for home cooks to obtain, I used a block of sashimi tuna that contains slight fatty meat. Tuna belly sashimi can be used to make the dish similar to the real Negitoro, but it is quite expensive.
If you can buy Negitoro in a pack, you should use it instead of making minced tuna from scratch.
2. You can reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer the sauce to be less sweet. You may want to taste test when mixing the ingredients.