Japanese food in Singapore is so popular that we’ve almost created a secondary fusion culture of it. Mentaiko mayo torched on large pieces of salmon paired with protein bowls is probably one of these instances! In Japan, mentai mayo (明太マヨ) is largely used with sashimi, sushi, dons, or especially pasta! However, you’d rarely see it being featured this way.
I absolutely LOVE the mentaiko mayo on salmon that’s sold in a lot of protein bowl restaurants here in Singapore and wanted to try to replicate it. But can you do it without a blowtorch?
Yes! You can! And the good news is that the sauce only requires 3 ingredients. Sounds too simple? That’s because mayonnaise is already a “multi-ingredient” ingredient which does most of the trick! In fact, you can also forgo the other 2 ingredients and achieve a similar result from just using the mayonnaise itself.
Mentaiko Salmon
- 3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie mayo is the most popular one)
- 1 tbsp chili sauce (I used sriracha)
- 3 tbsp mentaiko
- 2 pieces of Salmon (approximately 120g each)
- Pre-heat your oven to the highest temperature you can set, only on upper heat grill. Mine was 250°C
- In a bowl, stir to combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce and mentaiko.
- Scoop the mixture into a plastic bag and cut a corner tip. Pipe it onto your salmon. I prefer to pipe it onto the fish side instead of skin.
- Bake your salmon on the highest rack of your oven for about 8-10 minutes.* For the first 6 minutes, close the oven door. For the remaining amount of time, keep your oven door opened so that your salmon doesn’t get overcooked.
*Note: You will need to monitor how long it takes for the mentaiko mayo to be charred. This may vary between different ovens due to how close your rack can be to the top heat as well as the highest temperature your oven can reach. Mine took about 10 minutes to achieve the charred effect.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this simple yet tasty recipe! Let me know if you’ve tried it!
Until then!
xoxo,
Sam
Sweet Samsations 