Curry-Fried Hokke (Elementary School Portion)
【小学校】ホッケのカレー揚げ · Hokke no Kare-age
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese elementary school lunch menu
Hokke, or Atka mackerel, is a cold-water fish closely associated with Hokkaido, where it is most often salted and grilled. Here it gets the school lunch treatment instead: a quick soak in ginger and soy sauce, a coating of curry powder and potato starch, and a gentle fry until the outside is crisp. The mild curry aroma covers any fishiness, which is why children who normally push fish around their plates tend to finish this one. Best of all, the fish goes into the marinade straight from the freezer, so there is no thawing to plan ahead for.
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Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese elementary school, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 67.2 gfrozen hokke (Atka mackerel)A mild, flaky fish from northern Japan, often grilled. Substitute: Mackerel, cod, or any mild white fish.
Seasonings
- 1.4 gginger paste (tube)Grated ginger sold ready to use in a squeeze tube, a staple in Japanese kitchens. Japanese school lunch kitchens grate fresh ginger for its aroma, but for cooking at home Aoi says the tube works just fine. Tube pastes often contain added salt, oil and other ingredients, so check the label. Substitute: Use freshly grated ginger in the same amount. 1 teaspoon of paste is about 5 g.
- 3.3 gsoy sauce
- 0.6 gcurry powder
- 7.5 gpotato starch (katakuriko)Japanese potato starch used for thickening sauces and coating fried foods. Substitute: Cornstarch: start with the same amount and add a little more if it is still thin. It thickens a little less than potato starch and needs a couple of minutes at a gentle bubble to reach full thickness.
About the Japanese ingredients in this recipe
- frozen hokke (Atka mackerel) (冷凍ホッケ)
- A mild, flaky fish from northern Japan, often grilled. Substitute: Mackerel, cod, or any mild white fish.
- ginger paste (tube) (しょうがチューブ)
- Grated ginger sold ready to use in a squeeze tube, a staple in Japanese kitchens. Japanese school lunch kitchens grate fresh ginger for its aroma, but for cooking at home Aoi says the tube works just fine. Tube pastes often contain added salt, oil and other ingredients, so check the label. Substitute: Use freshly grated ginger in the same amount. 1 teaspoon of paste is about 5 g.
- potato starch (katakuriko) (かたくり粉)
- Japanese potato starch used for thickening sauces and coating fried foods. Substitute: Cornstarch: start with the same amount and add a little more if it is still thin. It thickens a little less than potato starch and needs a couple of minutes at a gentle bubble to reach full thickness. Read the guide: Katakuriko (Japanese Potato Starch) and What to Use Instead → Guide: japanese-school-lunch.com/articles/katakuriko-potato-starch/
Directions
- 1
Put the hokke, still frozen, in a shallow tray or bowl, add the ginger paste and soy sauce, and rub the marinade over both sides of the fish so it soaks in.
- 2
Mix the curry powder and potato starch together and coat both sides of the hokke thoroughly. (Shake off as much of the marinade as you can before dredging in the starch - it gives a neater finish. If you are making a large batch, you can drain the fish in a colander instead.)
- 3
Deep-fry in oil heated to 160°C (320°F) for about 10 minutes. (Keep the heat low so the surface doesn't burn.)
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 99 kcal | 198 kcal | 99 kcal |
| Protein | 11.9 g | 23.7 g | 11.9 g |
| Fat | 3 g | 6 g | 3 g |
| Carbohydrates | 7.1 g | 14.1 g | 7.1 g |
| Salt equivalent | 0.8 g | 1.5 g | 0.8 g |
| Calcium | 19.5 mg | 39 mg | 19.5 mg |
| Iron | 0.6 mg | 1.2 mg | 0.6 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 99 kcal | 11.9 g | 3 g | 7.1 g | 0.8 g | 19.5 mg | 0.6 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 198 kcal | 23.7 g | 6 g | 14.1 g | 1.5 g | 39 mg | 1.2 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese elementary-school portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
This is the elementary-school portion of Curry-Fried Hokke (Atka Mackerel) (larger quantities, same method).
