Chili の Sake の Sake

Can one "Japanacize" the classic American Chili?

We start with a baseline salmon chili recipe courtesy of a food aficionado from Guam. Lets just call him "Phil from Micronesia."

The salmon version of chili would almost be enough to justify calling this a Japanese version of chili, but the linkage is not strong enough just by using fish. Some sake (sa-kay) and some wasabi perhaps?

So the title Chili (no) sake (no) sake is just a play on the ingredients. The の particle can link nouns together and that's what we did here. It's a common practice on Japanese menus - and perhaps my usage is not completely right, but it serves its purpose.
- Salmon in Japanese is called sake さけ or しゃけ shake (pronounced sa-kay or sha-kay)
- Then we have the Japanese drink called sake of course.

The below recipe substitutes sake for white wine and adds a dose of real Japanese wasabi.

Salmon Chili
One can drained and rinsed red kidney beans (or beans of choice)
2 cups vegetable broth
1/8 cup olive oil
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1/4 cup each red, yellow, orange bell peppers (one color will work just fine)
3 tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup sake (replaces white wine, so use white wine if you don't have sake)
28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tube wasabi, adjust to taste
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp freshly chopped basil
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tsp dried thyme
1 lb salmon, diced into 1-inch pieces
optional - to further spice this up you can add some tougarashi - Japanese hot peppers if desired.

Most of the ingredients less the wasabi and salmon

Never mind the Guinness bottle in the background. That's for a different chili recipe...

Wasabi paste

Real wasabi

If you'd like and can get your hands on some, use some real wasabi and grate it yourself.

Watch out for ingredients called "Western wasabi" as this means "horseradish." It will also come in tubes just like the one shown above. The ingredient label will read like this:　西洋わさび

On the tube above you see 本わさび or hon wasabi. 本, Hon, besides meaning book, also means true or real. This is the one your looking for.

Salmon

Saute

 Saute the onions, celery, and peppers in the olive oil to soften.

Add the garlic and saute for another minute or so.

Add the sake and reduce for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. I've used a fairly good ginjo sake.  I've explained some different grades of sake in another post.

Add the drained beans along with the Tabasco, tomato paste, 2 cups vegetable broth, wasabi, and herbs and spices. Simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Add the salmon and simmer for another 3-4 minutes until cooked through. Stir carefully to incorporate the seafood without breaking it up too much.

This chili recipe was  not very hot, so feel free to bump up the heat as desired. The wasabi taste was very subtle as well and the amount could be increased without worry.

Serve with oyster crackers, fresh onion, grated cheese and sour cream if desired. Only thing missing is a football game - er - I mean a sumo match...



Random Japan photo: Lanterns at the Shojoshin-in Temple at Koyasan, Japan.