This is a rather simple dish but the secret is in balancing the elements. The robust strong flavours of cucumber and spring onion marry well with soy sauce and sesame. Strangely, a strong fish like mackerel combined with garlic builds on these layers of flavours. Use fresh mackerel if possible but if using smoked you may want to leave out the garlic. This will also work very well with white fish like haddock, monkfish and sea bass. You could make this into a full dinner by serving with rice. 
Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Straight Forward
4 fillets of Mackerel
1 large Cucumber
12 Spring onions (Scallions)
4 tablespoons of Soy sauce
3 tablespoons of Sesame oil
1 tablespoons of Mirin
6 cloves of Garlic
Black Pepper
1. Peel and slice the garlic finely. Add to a frying pan with the sesame oil on a low to medium heat. Cook until the garlic has browned, but not blackened. Remove from the heat and remove the garlic.
2. Top and tail the cucumber, half lengthwise, remove the seed and then slice into bite size pieces. With the spring onions remove the bottom of the root and the tips of the greens. chop into thin long slices.
3. Cook the mackerel in the pan with the sesame oil for 4-5 minutes till cooked though.
4. Take the oil from the pan and mix together with the mirin and soy sauce. Pour over the vegetables and mix well. Add black pepper to taste.
5. Assemble on the plate placing the fish on-top of the vegetables. Place the fried garlic on top of the fish.
Recipes from my kitchen, Edinburgh, Scotland 