Must-have Japanese ingredient: MIRIN (Japanese sweet rice wine)
Mirin is a really important ingredient in Japan and is used in Japanese dishes every day. This is a great opportunity to find out more about mirin, especially if you have never used it.
WHAT IS MIRIN?
Mirin is an essential ingredient for washoku (Japanese food) and you can find it in most, if not all, Japanese kitchens. If you have eaten teriyaki sauce, mirin is a key ingredient. It is a type of rice wine and similar with sweet sake.
There are three types of mirin.
MIRIN (HON MIRIN)
It contains steamed glutinous rice, rice malt, shochu, or alcohol. It has 12.5-14.5% alcohol and is cooked for a long time. Mirin is suitable for stewed dishes like nikujaga. It has benefits like removing strong fish and meat smells, preventing the boiling down of ingredients, locks in the umami and can macerate ingredients in a short time.
MIRIN-FU OR MIRIN-LIKE CONDIMENT
It contains sugar, such as glucose and starch syrup, rice, rice koji, and umami seasoning. It is made by mixing flavours in a short period of time. It scarcely has alcohol, just containing less than 1%. Mirin-like condiment is suitable for teriyaki dishes and dressing because it contains more sugar can add lustre to ingredients. It is also good for those who avoid alcohol and alcohol-based food.
MIRIN-TYPE CONDIMENT
It is in between mirin and mirin-like condiment. It contains rice, rice koji, sugar, salt, and 8-20% alcohol. It is used the same way as hon mirin. But It has a lot of salt so it’s important to know that before you add too much.
Hon mirin is actually more expensive than the another two mirins because of its category as an alcoholic drink. But I think it is good for health and there are a lot more benefits than the others. So I recommend buying hon mirin, but it is also good to use different mirin depending on the dish.
LET’S USE MIRIN! JAPANESE FOOD RECIPES
1. NIKUJAGA (BEEF AND POTATO STEW)
Cooking time: 30 minutes, plus 10 minutes to 1 hour for cooling down
Serves 2
Ingredients
200g thinly sliced pork
1/2 onion
1/2 carrot
2 potatoes
4 pieces green beans (boiled)
Seasonings
30ml cooking sake
18g sugar
15ml mirin
37.5ml soy sauce
salt for boiling green beans
sesame oil for frying
*If you are unable to find thinly sliced pork, slice them the size you want with a sharp knife.
Method
1. Green beans are boiled in boiling water with a little salt and cut in half.
2. Cut the carrot into quarter-rounds, the potatoes into irregularly sized chunks and the onion in half then thinly and diagonally.
3. Soak the potatoes in water to remove starch for 5 minutes.
4. Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan on medium heat, add beef and fry. When the color of the meat changes to light brown, add the onion, carrots, and potatoes in order and stir-fry them. If the onion and potatoes are getting burnt too quickly, add 15ml of water.
5. Add cooking sake, sugar and soy sauce. Put a lid or a sheet of aluminium foil and braise on medium-low heat for 15 minutes while turning it over.
6. When the vegetables are cooked through, add mirin and mix. Braise it again with the aluminium foil for 5 minutes.
7. Toss in the green beans to warm them up. All done! You can enjoy it with rice.
2. TERIYAKI SAUCE
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Seasonings
50g mirin
175g soy sauce
100g sugar
Method
Put mirin in a pan on medium-high and boil down to remove alcohol
Return to medium heat add soy sauce and sugar in the pan and stir until the sauce thickens
Done! It keeps for a 1 to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Teriyaki sauce is really useful! We recommend using it for cooking teriyaki chicken and salmon. Add the teriyaki sauce after frying them (best covered in flour). It is really easy to cook and delicious, please give it a try!
EXTRA TIPS! CAN you drink mirin like SAKE?
Did you know you can drink mirin like sake? I never tried it in my life, I thought mirin was only an ingredient for cooking.
Although there are various theories, mirin has been popular as a sweet high-class sake since the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573) and it was a staple beverage to cool down from the heat in the Edo period (1603 – 1868). But only hon-mirin which is just contains steamed glutinous rice, rice malt, shochu can be drunk as sake. So, if you are interested, please try it at home.
I hope you know more about mirin and are interested in using it. I didn’t know mirin had three types so when I go to buy mirin next time I look forward to finding them.
Writer: Yuki Takatani
Reference:
*1 意外と知らない「本みりん」と「みりん風調味料」の違い・使い分け, 「みりん」「みりん風調味料」「みりんタイプ調味料」の違いとは？ (2ページ目), 本みりん・みりん風調味料・みりんタイプ調味料の違いとは
*2 フライパン de 水なし！肉じゃがのレシピ・作り方 | Happy Recipe（ヤマサ醤油のレシピサイト）
*3 夏が飲みごろ。もち米リキュール「みりん」を使ったカクテルレシピ