Mentaiko Pasta
(Serves 3)
250g pasta
2 sacs of mentaiko
4 gloves of garlic (minced)
3 Tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
50g butter
Salt & peper to taste
Shredded nori to garnish
1) Boil up some salted water in which to cook your pasta till al dente. Once the pasta is ready, either strain it in a colander or using a pasta spoon and set it aside.
2) Using a knife, slit open the sacs of mentaiko and scrape out the roe, dropping the red fish eggs into a bowl.
3) Add the Japanese mayonnaise, light soy sauce, salt and pepper, and gently stir until all ingredients mix well. Do not whip the mixture vigorously as you might cause the tiny eggs to burst.
4) Melt the butter in a saucepan or frying pan, and add the minced garlic. Lightly fry till the garlic is golden and shimmering, but not browned.
5) Taking the saucepan off the heat, pour in the bowl of mentaiko sauce mixture, and the residual heat of the butter/garlic will cook it without curdling the eggs. Mix or toss the pasta in the pan to ensure that all the noodle strands are evenly coated.
6) Plate up, garnish with shredded nori, and enjoy immediately.
For variations, add bacon bits, onions or mushrooms when frying the garlic. As mentaiko is spicy, I use 2 sacs for mild taste which caters to children. If you like spicier pasta, can use more sacs. Usually mentaiko is sold as 4 sacs per packet. So you can make mentaiko pasta twice, or all at once for spicer taste.
