Today we gonna share you how to cook oiled horse mackerel with not only salty but also sweet taste and so much rich flavor because of Umeboshi. It’s one of the really easy mackerel recipes that I have, so please check it out below and try it.
What is Umeboshi ?
Umeboshi is a pickled plum in Japan. They say it has been traditional and popular all over Japan from over 1000 years back.
Since ancient times, Umeboshi have been known to be effective in relieving our body, because of that, it is said that during the Sengoku period (period of warring states), samurai(侍) brought Umeboshi to the battlefield as a ration.
At that time, people make Umeboshi themselves with mixing up salt and plum in a pot. But nowadays, we easily get Umeboshi at any supermarket or convenience store in Japan. So I recommend you to try it once, if you have chance to visit there.
What is the effect of Umeboshi for our body ?
Umeboshi have many good effect to our body so I’d like to see several major effect below, together.
Fight back against flu and other viruses
Polyphenols extracted from plum vinegar have strong anti-proliferative and anti-septic properties against influenza and other viruses, even in small amounts.
Purify your blood
Plum is an alkaline food. If you take too much acidic food, your blood will become acidic, and it will become dirty and difficult to flow. Umeboshi is a food containing alkaline minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. It helps to keep your blood slightly alkaline and smooth.
Heal and protect your body from fatigue
Umeboshi contains larger amount of citric acid among vegetables and fruits, and citric acid is effective to prevent and recover fatigue. Food absorbed from the intestine is digested into carbon dioxide and water, which generates energy. If this cycle does not rotate smoothly, a large amount of lactic acid accumulates in our body and it leads to chronic fatigue. Citric acid makes this cycle smooth.
Enhance the calcium absorption
Japanese people tend to have less amount of calcium than desirable quantity. It’s due to Japanese dietary habits which people don’t usually have dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt etc. In addition, calcium is a nutrient that is very difficult to absorb. So Japanese people usually get into the lack of calcium in their body. But citric acid contained in plum helps to absorb calcium and decrease the desirable level of calcium quantity.
Protect us from bacteria
It is well known in Japan, Umeboshi’s anti-bacteria effect. We usually put Umeboshi in a bento box, they won’t spoil easily. In the same way, the acid of Umeboshi is effective to kill germs in the stomach.
Why is the combination of Umeboshi and Mackerel good ?(especially when stewed in oil)
As I mentioned above, Umeboshi help to absorb calcium and we can have large quantity of calcium from Mackerel. Additionally, according to this recipe, we can cook it as even the mackrels’ bone is also able to be had. So you can get durable and strong body by this super-high-efficient-calcium recipe !
Cut off the head of the horse mackerel, remove the liver ,cut it in half and wash well. No need to remove bones because it will be softened to hardness which is easy to eat.
Line them up on the bottom of the small pot and add the mixture of olive oil, sugar,soy sauce and sake(or white wine). then add Umeboshi!
Simmer them for 30 min with low heat and transfer them into the plate.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off the head of the horse mackerel, remove the liver ,cut it in half and wash well. No need to remove bones because it will be softened to hardness which is easy to eat.
Line them up on the bottom of the small pot and add the mixture of olive oil, sugar,soy sauce and sake(or white wine). then add Umeboshi!
Simmer them for 30 min with low heat and transfer them into the plate.