What is this paste?

7 comments

1. What was the flavor? Salty, sweet, sour …? It looks like it might be umeboshi paste, especially given the instruction to put it on your rice. That would be sour. Without knowing anything about the taste, it’s hard to say, though. It also looks like it might be miso-based, but I’m not familiar with that as a rice topping.

2. It looks like miso to me. If it has umami and some funk, it’s probably it.

3. Possibly chicken katsu curry paste.

4. Agree it might be miso, as I’ve seen it along with Tonkatsu/Gyukatsu a lot. Umeboshi otherwise?

5. Do you have the restaurant name?

   Typically you don’t put straight miso on top of rice, but there are a number of miso based pastes that are meant to be eaten on top of rice, and it’s not really possible to tell which it might be from the photo. It may be mentioned alongside the name of the restaurant online somewhere since these things often tend to be either specialties of the restaurant or to a specific region of Japan.

   Some possibilities I can think of include yaki-miso, goma-miso, kurumi-miso, niku-miso, ninniku-miso, ume-miso, etc.

6. 1 tbsp miso, 2 tbspn mirin, 1 tbspn crushed toasted sesame, olive oil.

   I dont know what its called.

   I always make it when i cook tonkatsu.

7. I had miso-katsu in Nagoya but the miso is thinner and poured on top of the meat

   That sauce looks pretty thick. Perhaps an umeboshi paste or red kosho ?