Today’s soup, Miso Soup with Kingfish Head (Kingfish Arajiru), is a rich miso soup with umami-bomb stock made from a kingfish head. It is a filling miso soup containing root vegetables and the fish flesh around the fish head as well as the collars.
Prep Time assumes that the fish head is already cut into cubes.
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.
- 800g/1.8lb kingfish head with collars intact (cut into 5cm/2" long pieces, note 1)
- 1.5L/3.2pt boiling water
- 150g/5.3oz daikon (note 2)
- 75g/2.6oz carrot (note 2)
- 30g/1.1oz green onion , diagonally cut to 5mm/3/16" wide pieces
- 800ml.1.7pt ml water
- 3½-4 tbsp miso
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Halve or quarter the daikon vertically, depending on the diameter of your daikon. Then cut it perpendicular to the first cut into 4mm/3⁄16" thick slices.
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If your carrot is very fat, halve it vertically first, then cut each piece into 3mm/⅛" thick slices.
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Place fish pieces in a metal bowl or a pot, then pour over the boiling water until all the fish pieces are submerged in the hot water (note 3). The surface of the fish pieces becomes whitish.
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Taking one fish piece at a time, clean the fish piece under running water, removing brown bits and blood that might be left in the cavities.
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The skin on the collars and near the fins may have scales attached. Remove all of them.
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Transfer the cleaned fish pieces to a bowl or a colander.
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Put the cleaned fish pieces and water in a pot and bring it to a boil.
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Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.
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Add daikon and carrot pieces to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are almost cooked through.
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Dilute miso into the soup in the pot using a small mesh strainer (note 4).
1. You can ask the fish shop to cut the kingfish head. Get them to halve it vertically first, then cut it into small pieces. If there are large pieces (which you often get even if you ask for small pieces) cut them into smaller pieces. Trim the fins.
You can also cut it yourself using a cleaver knife or a Japanese fish knife called “deba” knife. Trim the fins as close to the body as possible, halve the kingfish head vertically, then cut each half into about 5cm/2" long pieces. Do not damage the eye when cutting the head because the damaged eyes makes the soup cloudy. If you accidentally damaged the eye, remove and discard it.
I used only the head and collars, but you can use the back bones as well, if you like. In the case of the back bone, cut it at the vertebra into about 6cm/2⅜" wide pieces.
2. You can use other root vegetables such as turnip and burdock. I like non-starchy vegetables to go into the arajiru.
3. You may need to gently move the fish pieces around so that the entire surface of all the fish pieces is blanched.
4. Alternatively, you can place the miso in a ladle, scoop a small amount of broth from the pot, and dilute the miso in the ladle before mixing it into the broth in the pot.
Do not put the miso directly into the pot, because the miso will not dilute easily unless you stir the soup a lot. Stirring the soup a lot will also break the delicate flesh of the fish pieces.
5. You can keep Arajiru for 1-2 days in the fridge.