How to Make Ikura

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: October 25, 2021 References

Ikura is seasoned and cured salmon roe, popular in Japanese cuisine. You can serve it over short-grain Japanese rice to make a dish known as ikura don, or you can add it to sushi. While you can always make simple ikura using cured salmon roe, if you want the real deal, you should use fresh salmon roe skeins instead.

Ingredients

Simple Ikura

¹⁄₄ cup (59 mL) of dashi
1 tablespoon (15 mL) of soy sauce
1 tablespoon (15 mL) of mirin or sake
4 ounces (115 g) of cured salmon roe

Ikura from Scratch

1 ¹⁄₂ cups (350 mL) of dashi
2 tablespoons (30 mL) of soy sauce
1 tablespoon (15 mL) of sake
1 tablespoon (17 g) of salt
1 tablespoon (12 g) of granulated sugar
2 large skeins of fresh salmon roe

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:
Making Simple Ikura

1
Stir together the soy sauce, mirin, and dashi. Pour ¹⁄₄ cup (59 mL) of dashi into a medium-sized bowl. Add 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of mirin and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of soy sauce. Stir everything together with a spoon.^{[1]
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- You can use sake instead of mirin.
- You can use homemade or store-bought dashi.
2
Add 4 ounces (115 g) of cured salmon roe. Make sure that you use cured salmon roe and not fresh salmon roe. Fresh salmon roe is still raw and requires additional preparation, while cured salmon roe has already been cleaned and prepared for you.^{[2]
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- Give the mixture a quick stir to ensure that all of the roe pearls are submerged.
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3
Refrigerate the roe for 15 to 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then tuck it into the fridge. Leave it there for 15 to 30 minutes so that the roe pearls can soak up the flavors.^{[3]
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- The roe has already been cured for you; this step is simply making it more flavorful.
4
Drain the roe. Pour the roe into a strainer over a sink. Gently shake the strainer to remove the excess sauce. Do not reuse the drained sauce.^{[4]
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- You do not want to reuse the sauce for sanitary purposes, just how you would not want to reuse marinade.
5
Serve the ikura as desired. Spoon it over some short-grain Japanese rice to make ikura don, or add it to sushi.^{[5]
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Research source} If you are making ikura don, you can even add some wasabi, nori, a shiso leaf, or even slices of salmon sashimi.^{[6]
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- Use about 1 to 2 tablespoons (40 to 80 g) of ikura for each serving.
- Store any leftover ikura in a covered container in the fridge. Eat it within 1 week.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:
Making Ikura from Scratch

1
Combine the dashi, soy sauce, sake, salt, and sugar. Pour 1 ¹⁄₂ cups (350 mL) dashi into a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of sake, 1 tablespoon (17 g) of salt, and 1 tablespoon (12 g) of sugar. Stir everything together until the salt and sugar dissolve.^{[7]
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- Set the brine aside for later.
- Homemade dashi would be better, but you can use store-bought too.
2
Set a wire screen over a large bowl. Use a round, wire screen with holes big enough for the pearls (roe) to easily fit through. The wires should be thin and delicate, otherwise, they won't scrape the pearls off the skein.^{[8]
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- A wire cooling rack is a great option, but you can also use a wire screen meant for grilling things in a skillet.
- Make sure that the bowl is big enough to hold all of the pearls.
3
Spread open a skein of salmon roe. One side of the skein will be smooth and flat, while the other will have the pearls attached to it. Spread apart the skein to reveal both sides.^{[9]
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- It would be a good idea to wear plastic gloves for this step.
- This is not the same thing as the salmon roe that comes in plastic tubs. It's still attached to the sack, and hasn't been cured at all.
- You can buy fresh skeins of salmon roe from a fishmonger or fish market.
4
Drag the skein, pearl-side-down, across the screen. Place the end of the skein on top of the screen, press down on it, and drag it towards the other end. This should remove the first few inches/centimeters or so of pearls. Repeat this process as often as necessary until you scrape off most of the pearls.^{[10]
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- Work your way down the length of the skein. Apply pressure to the next 2 inches (5.1 cm) or so as you drag it across the screen, and so forth.
5
Wrap the skein around 2 chopsticks to scrape off the rest of the pearls. Pinch the end of the skein between 2 chopsticks. Wrap the skein around the chopsticks, like hair around a hair roller. Pop the pearls off as you go.^{[11]
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- Roll the chopsticks towards the pearls, not away from them.
6
Rinse the pearls in cold water. Transfer the pearls to a fine, mesh strainer. Hold the strainer under cold, running water. Gently sift the pearls with your fingers to move them around. Keep rinsing them until the water runs clear.^{[12]
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- Gently shake the strainer afterwards to dislodge any excess moisture.
7
Transfer the roe into a bowl, then pour the prepared brine over them. You only need to use enough brine to cover the roe. If you have extra brine left over, you can save it for another recipe, or just add it to the roe.^{[13]
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8
Refrigerate the ikura for 1 day. Since you used fresh, not cured, roe, you need to cure it yourself. Simply cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then put the bowl into the fridge. Leave it there for 1 full day.^{[14]
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- The brine will help cure the roe as well as add flavor to it.
- Do not cure the roe at room temperature or it will spoil.
- Don't cure it for longer than 1 day, or the flavor will become too intense.
9
Strain the brine. Pour the ikura into a strainer over a sink, then gently jiggle the strainer to dislodge any excess brine.
- Do not reuse this brine, as it would have been in contact with raw roe.
10
Use the ikura as desired. Use the roe in sushi rolls or serve it over short-grain Japanese rice to make ikura don. If you are making the latter, garnish it with wasabi, nori, or shiso leaves for extra flavor. You can even add some slices of salmon sashimi.^{[15]
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- Plan on using 1 to 2 tablespoons (40 to 80 g) of ikura per serving.
- Put any leftover ikura in a covered container and store it in the fridge. Consume it within 1 week.
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