Cooking Japanese in Jamaica - Gashira karaage (Lion fish)

Ai Irasawa-Coney, GUEST COLUMNIST

My parents visit Jamaica every winter when the weather in Japan is freezing cold. On their visit last year, they flew into Mon-tego Bay which gave us an opportunity to spend a few relaxing days in the tourism capital.

One night, we were at Pier 1, and my father saw some fish that looked like kasago. As a fishing fanatic, he was very excited.

Kasago is known as scorpion fish or marbled rock fish. The more elaborate version of it is the lionfish which in Japanese is mino kasago. Both fish are better known to Western Japanese as gashira, and are quite a delicacy. Japanese love them in sashimi, tempura, miso soup, karaage, nitsuke - in about everything. Most times they are served at luxury traditional Japanese restaurants.

So when I heard that lionfish was eating other sea creatures such as shrimp and destroying the coral reef in the Caribbean Sea, I thought I should introduce some of the most delicious ways to cook lionfish to help reduce the number. No joke.

I would like to start with gashira karaage which is deep-fried lionfish. The difference between karaage and tempura, is that karaage is coated with potato starch before being fried whereas tempura uses batter with flour. The end result is a lightly crispy crust of karaage versus the puffy crust of tempura. Both are good but as a cooking method for fish, I prefer the former. Karaage fish can be eaten to the bones, it is also the more economical of the two.

Potato starch can be purchased at most supermarkets. Alternatively you can use cornstarch, but cornstarch gives a little heavier and more dense texture than potato starch.

Also, I like karaage with simple soy sauce and lemon or lime juice mix, but you can create your own dip. You can fry the fish whole or fillet it.

Itadakimasu!

Ai Irisawa-Coney managed a Japanese restaurant in Soho, London. She is also a founder of Epiphany Media Solutions www.facebook.com/epiphanymediaja and ACI Consultancy www.aci-consultancy.com.

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 2 persons

Ingredients

2 medium-size lionfish (fins cut, scaledand gutted)

Potato starch

Sea salt

Vegetable oil

For dip

2tbs soy sauce (Kikkoman brand recommended)

1/4 lemon or 1 lime

Cooking instructions

The best way to cut the lionfish for this recipe is to slit them just like you would if you were going to fillet them (without cutting the meat off the bones completely).

It is very simple. All you have to do it to slice them close to the bones but make sure you do not cut the meat off the bones.

Before seasoning the fish with sea salt, wash fillet, head and bones and remove excess water with paper towel.

(1) Season everything with sea salt and sprinkle them with potato starch (or cornstarch).

(2) Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to deep-fry the fish, then heat it up on a strong fire. When the oil is piping hot, throw in everything (be careful not to splash the oil).

(3) When the fish gets crispy (crispy enough for the bones to be eaten) and golden brown, it is ready. Dip in lemon/lime soy sauce mix.