Ankimo is a liver of monkfish which is appreciated as Japanese traditional winter delicacy. It is not too difficult to make this fancy appetizer to swoon your guests.

What you need
Fresh monk fish liver
Sake
Soy sauce

What to do;

1) First, buy a fresh monkfish liver from a good fish store. Size may vary, but buy a whole liver.

2) Put the liver in a bowl and place it under slowly running cold water for 10 minutes.

3)Take off as much visible blood vessels as you can do with using a small, sharp knife. This may sound easy but it is actually difficult because the liver is very soft. Do not try too hard if the liver is getting crumbling.

4) Place a cleaned liver in a bowl, and add 1-2 tbs of soy sauce. Toss gently to coat the liver with soy sauce, and leave for 5 minutes.

Soy sauce is a great help to make the liver less fishy.

5) Rinse the liver with some sake for washing off the soy sauce. But you don’t have to use cups of sake. 1/3-1/2 cup is well enough.

6) Wrap the liver tightly in aluminum foil, rolling it up into a tube.

7) Prepare a steamer. When the water is boiling rapidly, place the roll and cover tighly.

Steam over high heat for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium and steam for 12-15 minutes more, depending on the size of the liver.

If you do not have a steamer, a steamer basket will be a good alternative. If you do not have either, probably you can place a small ceramic container in a bigger pot, add water to boil, then place a flat plate on the small container and cover the big pot. Well, look at the following movie (about 2:40-).

8) Let the liver cooled, and store in a fridge overnight or until completely chilled.

9) When it is chilled and set firm, open the foil.

10) Slice into your preferred thickness.

11) Serve it with Ponzu sauce and some garnishing, such as scallion and red pepper.

If you like duck foie gras, you will love this for sure! Enjoy with fine sake.

Easy Ponzu Sauce
2 oz Vinegar (rice, white wine, apple or malt vinegar)
2 oz Freshly squeezed orange or tangerine juice
3 oz Soy Sauce
1 tbs Freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbs Sake
1 ts Honey

Mix all ingredients well.

I have this recipe in Japanese, too!
あん肝蒸し