Homemade Unagi Sauce (Sweet Eel Sauce)

Method6 steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Put the 3 tbsp turbinado sugar and 1 tsp dark brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Watch until the sugars begin to melt; they need not melt completely.

   Uses 3 tbsp turbinado sugar (zarame), coarse light brown sugar · 1 tsp dark brown sugar (muscovado or similar)

   
2. 2

   Step 2: Carefully add the 75 ml sake and 75 ml mirin to the partly melted sugars from step 1. Stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to a boil.

   Uses Partly melted turbinado and dark brown sugars · 75 ml sake · 75 ml mirin

   
3. 3

   Step 3: Once the dissolved sugar, sake and mirin from step 2 are boiling, let them bubble for 1–2 minutes, checking from 1 minute.

   Boil sake, mirin and sugars · 1 minUses Dissolved sugars, sake and mirin

4. 4

   Step 4: After the 1–2-minute boil in step 3, lower the heat and add the 75 ml Japanese soy sauce. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has a syrup-like consistency.

   Thicken unagi sauce · 10 minUses Boiled sugar, sake and mirin mixture · 75 ml Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)

   
5. 5

   Step 5: Skim any foam from the thickened sauce from step 4 and remove from the heat. Transfer to a clean shallow heatproof container and refrigerate promptly after the initial steam subsides, cooling until chilled.

   Uses Simmered unagi sauce

   
6. 6

   Step 6: Use the cooled sauce from step 5 as a glaze or drizzle in a separate cooked dish. Keep unused sauce in a clean airtight container at 4 °C or below and use within 3–4 days. Pour out a portion for glazing so utensils that touch uncooked food do not return to the stored sauce.

   Uses Prepared sauce retained after skimming