Wok Fried Hamachi Kama with Shimeji Mushroom Sauce

Kama or collar is often regarded as a garbage part of the fish and discarded in western culture, but if you don’t mind a bit of work it’s where you find the cheek and the tastiest meat on the fish. If you can’t find hamachi (yellowtail) collar this would work well with any fish really, I would just avoid something with lots of small bones. I used white Shimeji mushrooms for this recipe but these could easily be substituted with another kind of mushroom, I think Enoki mushrooms, or Oyster mushrooms would work really well. It should be noted that this is not a keto recipe due to the cornstarch but if omitted it would be, you just wouldn’t get quite the same crispiness, or thickness of the sauce.

INGREDIENTS FOR FISH

• 1 pc Hamachi collar

• 2-3 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 cup approx cooking oil

• salt and pepper

INGREDIENTS FOR TOPPING

• 1 cup of Shimeji mushrooms, trimmed, separated and washed

• 3 green onions

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 2” chunk of ginger peeled

• 1 birds-eye chilli (can remove seeds or use more according to your taste this was mild spicy)

• 2 tbsp cooking oil

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1 tbsp cooking wine, sake or white wine

• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

• 2 tbsp of water

Cooking the first side of my fish. See the little tester ginger in there 😝

Slivered ginger, Shimeji mushrooms, garlic and chilies for sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in wok on medium heat. This is a shallow fry so the amount of oil should be enough to cover about half the fish. While the oil is heating, dry the fish thoroughly with a paper towel, dust your fish with a thin layer of cornstarch and season with salt and pepper.

2. Test if oil is heated with a thin slice of ginger. if It bubbles and sizzles then go ahead and place the fish in (carefully!) skin side down. You will leave it for about 5 minutes or until the bottom is nicely crisped before turning over to cook the other side.

3. While the fish is cooking, you can start preparations for the sauce. Cut the ends off mushrooms and separate into individual pieces, peel and sliver your ginger, chop green onion into 2” lengths, and finely slice garlic and chili. In one small bowl combine soy sauce, oyster sauce and cooking wine. In another small bowl dissolve cornstarch in water.

4. Remove fish from oil when its cooked in the center and both sides of fish are crispy (should be about 10-12 minutes total). Remove the fish from oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel lined plate to soak up extra oil.

5. Now it’s time to make the sauce. Wooooh!!! In another pan (or the same cleaned and wiped down) heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil. Add all the vegetables EXCEPT green onion and sautée on low heat until tender.

6. Add the first bowl containing the soy, oyster sauce and wine. Add the green onions while mixing and finally add the cornstarch water mixture last. Turn the heat up to medium while continuing to mix until the sauce thickens sauce then remove pan from heat.

7. Place fish on a serving plate, skin down, top with mushroom sauce and serve immediately for ultimate crispiness.😋