Yellowtail & Jalapeño: A Lima-Tokyo Love Letter
Where the Pacific meets the plate — raw, bright, a little bit on fire.
Yellowtail — hamachi — swims both the cold waters off Hokkaido and the nutrient-rich Humboldt Current that feeds Peru's coast. Summer's the moment when both oceans are at their coldest and the fish at their sweetest. I've nicked the best from each side: Japanese precision with yuzu and ponzu, Peruvian heat and cilantro. No cooking required — just a sharp knife and respect for what the ocean gave you.
How to Cook It
- 01
Make the cilantro oil
Blanch cilantro leaves in boiling water for 20 seconds, ice-bath them immediately, squeeze dry in paper towels. Blitz with olive oil in a blender until screaming green. Push through a fine sieve. Should smell like a Lima market in July.
~10 min - 02
Build the ponzu
Whisk yuzu juice, soy, and mirin in a small bowl. Taste — should sing sour and salty together, no one note winning. Let it sit five minutes so flavours know each other.
~5 min - 03
Slice the hamachi
Pat the fish completely dry. Using a very sharp, wet knife (dip it between each slice), cut 6–8mm thick slices against the grain. Lay them on a chilled plate, overlapping gently. The knife should glide; if it drags, your fish wasn't cold enough.
~5 min - 04
Prepare the jalapeño
Halve the jalapeños lengthwise, de-seed and de-membrane them (that's where the heat hides), then slice razor-thin on a mandoline or with the flat of your knife. Taste a sliver — adjust the amount based on your crowd's tolerance.
~3 min - 05
Dress and finish
Pour ponzu over the hamachi, scatter jalapeño slices across, drizzle the cilantro oil in a loose spiral. Pinch of fleur de sel. Serve immediately — sashimi waits for no one, and the acid will start to denature the fish if you linger.
~2 min
“Cold white plate, cold fish. No fuss. Drizzle ponzu, lay the slices so they're visible, not a heap. Cilantro oil should be bright green and pool a little at the edges. Jalapeño scattered, not buried. The plate is a map of three flavours talking to each other — acid, heat, and umami — with the fish as the quiet centre. Eat it within a minute of plating.”
First bite: cold, silky fat of the hamachi blooming on your tongue, then the sharp bite of yuzu and soy arriving like a ship at dawn. Heat creeps in from the jalapeño — not a scream, a whisper. Cilantro oil finishes with a green, peppery echo. The texture stays pristine, never mushy. By the last slice, you're chasing that balance of heat and cool.
Skip the hamachi. Use 300g of silken tofu, pressed gently and sliced 8mm thick, or 300g of thinly shaved raw Granny Smith apple (toss in lemon juice to stop browning). The ponzu, jalapeño, cilantro oil, and salt stay the same. Tofu soaks up the ponzu beautifully; apple gives you texture and a bright acid that plays well with the cilantro. Neither mimics fish — they're just honest and cold and good.
Crisp, mineral, no oak to fight the yuzu and raw fish — Chablis especially mirrors the salty umami
Clean, cold, cuts through the oil and heat without ego; perfectly Zen alongside raw fish
Homemade or shop-bought yuzu soda if you can find it — echoes the ponzu and keeps your palate sharp
- ·Knife must be sharp and wet — a dull blade bruises fish and ruins the bite
- ·Cilantro oil oxidizes fast; make it no more than an hour ahead, keep it cool and covered
- ·If you can't get fresh yuzu, bottled works — just avoid the sweetened stuff; pure juice only
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