Gold from a ocean

If we accost from a family of starved pescatarians, we would be prepared for many things that come from a sea. But, while we competence have savoured trout roe or tuna tartare, a steer of tender uni takes some removing used to.

We are somewhat perplexed, therefore, when Chef Swapnil Doiphode brings out a tray of uni during Yuuka by Ting Yen. We are on a 37th building of St Regis, Lower Parel, with a Mumbai seashore flung forward of us, though all we can demeanour during are a tighten rows of uni sitting on a tray. They are an alluring morning orange but, honestly, they demeanour like small tongues. What’s more, uni (pronounced oo-ni) is a roe-filled gonad of a sea urchin (each sea urchin has 5 of these). Currently, Yuuka is a customarily grill in city portion this delicacy.

Uni can be eaten as sushi or nigiri (below), that is prepared with maki rice, or as sashimi (right), where a seafood sweetmeat is served raw. Pics/Sneha Kharabe

“Like all a other mixture during a restaurant, we import uninformed uni twice a month, from Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market,” says Doiphode, who assimilated Yuuka in 2014 and has been helming affairs given this year.

In Jan this year, Doiphode vacationed in Japan, where he initial encountered uni from a island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido uni is among a many cherished varieties in a world, and looks some-more orangish than some other varieties (uni’s colour customarily ranges from a light mustard to a low orange). For Doiphode, it was adore during initial bite.

He says that while locals in Japan mangle open sea urchins to dip out a uni, it is opposite for professionals. Like fugu (Japanese for a pufferfish, famous to be poisonous), uni requires a protected cook to de-gonad it.

As a tray disappears behind into a protected havens of a freezer, Doiphode says, “With a brief shelf life, uni is one of a many costly ingredients. One portion of uni sashimi, that has usually about 20 gm of uni, costs Rs 1450.” He pauses, and afterwards adds, “With taxes.”

Chef Swapnil Doiphode assembles a uni sashimi platter during Yuuka

Seek out a uni sashimi, sushi or nigri on a menu and we won’t find it. Customers haven this sweetmeat and sometimes, devise their visits to a grill around it. You’ll have to ask, and if we are in luck, we shall receive. “We started portion uni when a patron requested it. For now, we are looking during how open Mumbai’s Japanese epicurean throng is to it. We customarily advise people to try out sushi or nigiri — given they come with maki rice — rather than make a approach thrust for sashimi, that customarily has tender uni,” explains Doiphode.

To offer a sashimi, Doiphode heaps tender uni in an dull sea urchin shell, a brownish-red spines still intact. With a develop of creatively belligerent wasabi to tip off a uni, a sashimi is ready. “The wasabi should negate any probable side-effects that people competence have to eating tender fish,” says Doiphode, reassuringly.

When we sceptics don’t rumple adult to a uni, Doiphode deduction to make a nigiri and gunkan (with seaweed wrapped around maki rice) with a uni. He asks us to try it, and, to a surprise, a uni tastes delicious. It’s honeyed and sea during a same time, creation it tough to pin-down a flavour. But as it melts into your mouth, we knowledge a cloudburst of light custard that reminds we some-more of a dessert, rather than seafood.

“It is ostensible to be good for one’s virility,” says Doiphode, as he goes on to speak about how a protein-rich uni is an aphrodisiac, like oysters or avocado. Is this something he tells his business about? “No, best they find out themselves,” he smiles.

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