Unagi Kabayaki

Here, I am sharing another style of preparing unagi / eel - the Japanese style way - unagi kabayaki. The steps are quite easy. The only tricky part is to obtain all these ingredients. Eels are not sold in the Malaysian morning market as it is not popular among the locals. In Sekinchan, Selangor, you should be able to find eels at the padi farms. There are quite a number of "eel fisherman" who goes around the padi farm, fishing for eels.

However, in the town area in Malaysia, some of the places which offers eels for sale are in supermarkets and in Japanese restaurants. More often that not, these eels are already marinated and cooked. So if you know where to get good stock of eels in Malaysia, please let me know.

• 1 lb eel steak
• 3 tablespoons sake
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup fish stock

Directions:

1. Pour sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and fish stock in a pot.
2. Bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by half.
3. Skewer eel steaks so that they will remain flat during cooking.
4. Place eel skin-side down on a preheated grill; cook 3 minutes on high. Flip eel and cook another 3 minutes.
5. Baste skin-side with sauce; flip and cook 1 minute. Baste meat side with sauce; flip and cook 1 minute.
6. Repeat previous step once more. The trick is to baste the meat a few times to ensure that the eel doesn't dry out.
7. Serve warm with rice.