Mirin and Ponzu

I eat fish for dinner everyday.  Sometimes I eat fish for lunch too.  Actually I wouldn't rule out breakfast either - I did have salmon and oatmeal for breakfast today and yesterday.  Hahaha.  I know it sounds weird.  But my nutritionist introduced me to oatmeal and canned tuna mixed together for breakfast and I thought it sounded gross at first, but decided that I like tuna, and I like oatmeal, so why not try them together.  Hey, don't knock it till you try it right??  It's actually pretty good.  She puts lemon juice and splenda in it too but I don't need that.  It's the perfect nutritional combination to have for breakfast because it's got all the healthy carb and fiber from the oatmeal, and protein and omega 3 from tuna.  It's great for a post work out meal.  Anyway, I feel like the anti-inflammation properties of omega 3 in fish really help me stay lean.  If I skip fish for even one day I immediately feel bloated.  But I do need more fish recipes since for the last year I've been grilling it on the George Foreman with some lemon pepper sprinkled on both sides.  Well must admit, it gets boring.  I'm actually surprised I haven't gone crazy yet.

I read some pretty good fish recipes on Fitness magazine's website.  They had like 40 different fish recipes.  But I had to veto 95% of them because they required either too much oil or salt, or both.  I figured the other ones could work with modification.  It turns out, most of the recipes I picked out contained this ingredient called Mirin.  It's Japanese cooking saki.  I had never heard of it before, but I like saki.  Apparently Mirin is a sweet saki, and it is great as a substitute for vinegar or white wine, and great for glazing as well.  So I got it at the store today.

I also got some ponzu sauce.  I had never used it before either, but I've had it at my favorite sushi restaurant and remember it being good.  It's soy sauce with citrus flavor.  The one I got is lemon flavor.  But it also comes in lime.  The citrus makes the color of the soy sauce a lot lighter than regular soy sauce.

Supposedly ponzu is great for fish as well because the flavor covers the "fishy" taste, while bringing out the natural sweetness of the fish.  It still has a high sodium content though, at 400mg a tablespoon.  So I have to use it sparingly, otherwise I will blow up like a fish!

Well tonight I mixed mirin and ponzu together with some crushed garlic, and brushed the mixture on the fish, and broiled it.  Very very simple and it turned out to be really good!  The taste is light with a faint sweetness - I didn't use too much of either sauce.  But they both complimented the fish instead of overpowering it.  I think I overcooked the fish a little though because the mirin and ponzu mixture started to glaze a little bit on top and sides of the fish.  It was still good though.  If I had bought some fresh herbs or something, I think it would have been even better!  I will have to do more research later and figure out different ways to incorporate these ingredients to my dinners!