It is the sort of dish that would appear in my kitchen when I doesn’t have time, or the inclination, to go to the market. As a matter of fact, I haven’t made this with any fresh mackerel within hours of its being caught. What has always been used is a pack of frozen mackerel fillets found in supermarkets.

To send away any unpleasant smell of the fish, you shall see I have put a twist on the original saba shioyaki, that is salted-grilled mackerel in Japanese.

I added a pinch of ground white pepper as one of the marinades, and roasted the fish on a bed of lemon slices (if you have access to fresher mackerel as most saba shioyaki used, you may skip this step).

The broiled fish was then paired with the acidic dipping sauce, made from daikon, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sake. That’s it, we (mainly I, because hubby is not a fan of mackerel) enjoyed the oily fish without feeling it greasy.

Hope you like this too, also enjoying the benefits of eating mackerel which is packed with omega-3 fatty acids.

• Ingredients
• 1 mackerel (saba) fillet, ~120g, cleaned
• 1/4 lemon slices, thinly sliced into half-rounds
• sea salt, ~ 1/4 tsp
• pinch of ground white pepper,
• double or multiply the ingredients as required

• Dipping sauce
• ~ 1/2 tbsp grated daikon (Japanese white radish)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

The lemon slices not only give the fish a refreshing flavor but also help keep it succulent.

There might be juice leached out from the grated daikon, sample the taste to decide if you’d like to add it to the sauce (sometimes it may taste bitter if not in the season).

Enjoy!

Note: The oven I used is a counter top toaster oven of 1800W.