Mushidai (Whole Sea Bream Steamed with Okara Stuffing)
Quick answer
- Active time
- 120 min
- Waiting
- See the steps
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 8 servings
- Ingredients
- 19
About this dish
A whole sea bream of about 1 kg is opened from the back with its fins and shape intact, packed with sweetened okara, and steamed in one piece for celebrations in Kochi.
Read more
Sieved hard-boiled egg yolk goes over the top at the end, and the fish is presented on a large sawachi platter at weddings, New Year, and the banquets locals call okyaku. A sweet potato steamed alongside is the old way of judging doneness, and this recipe keeps that habit.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Scale and gut the bream, then open it from the back while leaving the fins and body form intact.
Rinse, pat dry, season lightly with 1 teaspoon salt, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
- 2
Soak kombu in 400 ml water for 30 minutes, heat gently, and remove just before boiling.
Add 5 g bonito flakes, turn off the heat, rest 2 minutes, and strain 300 ml dashi. Separately soak and finely chop the shiitake.
- 3
Shave the burdock finely and dice the carrot and rehydrated shiitake.
Add burdock, shiitake, then carrot to the dashi; season with 30 g sugar, soy sauce, and 0.125 teaspoon salt, and simmer until dry.
- 4
Combine the okara with the cooled vegetables and finely chopped leaf garlic.
Add 5 raw eggs, 130 g sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt, then knead until moisture and seasoning are evenly distributed.
- 5
Blot the rested bream dry again.
Fill the belly and back opening evenly with the okara mixture without packing so hard that the flesh tears, then bring the fish back to its original shape.
- 6
Line a large fully steaming basket with a damp cloth or bamboo leaves and add the bream and washed sweet potato.
Cover and steam vigorously about 45 minutes, until a skewer enters the potato and the stuffing center reaches at least 74°C.
- 7
Lift the fish out carefully with the cloth and transfer to a large platter.
Press only the hard-boiled yolk through a fine sieve over the surface, then divide fish and okara together among eight diners.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
土佐伝統食研究会 · Checked: 2026-08-11
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