Go Back
Tai meshi — Japanese sea bream rice with flaked fish and chopped green onion in a white bowl, with side dishes behind

Tai Meshi (Japanese Sea Bream Rice)

Japanese sea bream rice made the easy home way: a salted, pan-seared sea bream fillet cooked on top of rice seasoned with soy sauce, sake, mirin and kombu in the rice cooker, then flaked through the rice and topped with green onion.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 rice-cooker cups Japanese short-grain rice 360 ml; rinsed and soaked 30 minutes
  • 1 to 2 sea bream fillets skin on; red snapper or sea bass also work
  • 1/3 tsp salt for the fish
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil for searing
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce light (usukuchi) for pale rice, or regular
  • 2 tbsp sake
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 1 pinch salt for the rice
  • 1 piece kombu about 5 cm / 2 inch
  • water to the 2-cup line
  • 2 to 3 stalks green onion chopped; or mitsuba and shredded ginger

Method
 

  1. Rinse the rice until the water runs mostly clear, soak for at least 30 minutes, then drain.
  2. Sprinkle the salt over both sides of the fish and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Pat dry with a paper towel.
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sear the fish skin-side down until golden, then flip and cook the other side for about 1 minute. It does not need to be cooked through.
  4. Put the rice in the rice cooker pot. Add the soy sauce, sake, mirin and a pinch of salt first, lay the kombu on top, then add water up to the 2-cup line. Stir once.
  5. Set the seared fish on top, skin-side up, and cook on the normal white rice or mixed-rice setting. Do not stir once the fish is in.
  6. When the rice is done, lift out the fish and kombu. Remove the skin and all bones, flake the flesh, return it to the pot and fold it through the rice gently. Serve topped with green onion.