This is a recipe that we’ve been making since 2008 when it appeared in the LCBO’s Food & Drink, Early Summer Magazine. In fact, JT has often made it for my birthday! I’m not sure what initially drew me to this ingredient heavy recipe but I do know that I have absolutely loved it since day one! We often make it without the shrimp dumplings as an everyday dish, but I recently made it for a dinner party with dumplings so I thought I’d finally share it with you. Although it does look daunting, the steps are easy and the dish comes together beautifully with very little effort so you too can enjoy your dinner party. We haven’t made many changes, with the exception of a few minor ingredient modifications and doubling the broth, I just adore the flavour of the broth and always feel like it could have used just a bit more…so our version includes, just a bit more!

Broiled Sake-Marinated Cod with Shrimp Dumplings in Shiso Broth
Serves 4 generously
Original recipe by Lucy Waverman, LCBO Early Summer 2008
Ingredients for Cod and Sake Marinade:
- 400 g Cod
- ¼ cup (50 mL) sodium reduced soy sauce
- 3 tbsp (45 mL) honey
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) mirin
- 2 tbsp (25 mL) sake
- ¼ tsp (1 mL) grated peeled fresh ginger
- ¼ tsp (1 mL) grated garlic
Directions for the Cod and Sake Marinade:
- Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade and whisk well. Lay cod in a single layer in a shallow, non-reactive pan and pour the marinade over, making sure the cod is covered it it, wrap container in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight, turning Cod occasionally.
Ingredients for the Shrimp Dumplings:
- 175 g shrimp, deveined and cut into pieces
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- ½ tsp (2 mL) grated fresh ginger
- ½ tsp (2 mL) grated fresh garlic
- 2 tsp (10 mL) honey
- 2 tsp (10 mL) mirin
- 2 tsp (10 mL) soy sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) toasted sesame oil
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
- ¼ tsp (1 mL) water
- 25-32 wonton wrappers or this recipe
Directions for the Shrimp Dumplings:
- Combine all of the ingredients but the egg yolk, water and wonton wrappers in the bowl of a small food processor and process until well puréed. Set aside. Lightly whisk the egg yolk and water together.
- Place one teaspoon of the shrimp mixture into the centre of a wonton wrapper, rub a bit of the egg yolk-water mixture on the edges and fold up the edges in a decorative pattern, squeezing out any air. Set finished dumplings on a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet and continue until you have used up all of the shrimp mixture (how many dumplings you get will depend on how much shrimp mixture).
- Freeze the dumplings until required, it only takes a minute longer to cook them from frozen and they are much easier to handle while frozen.
Ingredients for the Shiso Broth:
- 4 cups (1 L) chicken stock or water
- 4 tbsp (50 mL) sodium reduced soy sauce
- 4 tsp (20 mL) mirin
- 4 tsp (20 mL) rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp (2 mL) grated fresh garlic
- 1/2 tsp (2 mL) grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp (4 mL) honey
- 1 tsp (4 mL) toasted sesame oil
- 1 oz (30 g) shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and thinly sliced
- 20 thin slices peeled carrot
- ¼ cup (50 mL) julienne leek (white part only)
- 1 cup (250 mL) baby spinach leaves
- 1½ tsp (7 mL) white sesame seeds, toasted
Shiso Broth and Serving:
- Pre-heat the oven on High broil. Remove the Cod from the marinade and lay onto a parchment lined shallow sided baking tray. Broil for 8-10 minute or until an internal temperature of 168° F is reached.
- Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a boil and boil 12 shrimp dumplings for about 3 minutes or until they float to the top. Remove dumpling with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Combine all of the Shiso Broth ingredients but the spinach and sesame seeds in a large pot and slowly bring to a boil (adding the marinating liquid as a punch of flavour). Cook until the carrots are soft and then reduce to a simmer, adding the spinach and the shrimp dumplings to wilt and warm through.
- Warm 4 shallow, rimmed soup bowls. Add about 1 cup of broth, including mushrooms, spinach and carrots and top with the broiled Cod serving with 3 dumplings per plate. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Notes:
- I always use sodium reduced Soy sauce.
- I have replaced sugar with honey.
- No need to purchase drinking Sake, a good quality cooking Sake will do the trick.
- The LCBO recipe makes far too many dumplings so just freeze what you don’t use for next time.
- The LCBO recipe for the dumplings contain scallops but they are ridiculously expensive so I have omitted them, either way is tasty.
- In a pinch, you can buy ready-made shrimp dumplings although I have not done this.
- Purchased wonton wrappers tend to be a bit too thick, so I recommend to roll them to a thinner thickness so they don’t taste too heavy.
Love this! Might have to make it without the lovely dumplings or change to a bit of ground pork or chicken since Dave doesn’t eat shrimp. Pinned!
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Your soup is a different and I’m sure it has a delicious flavor.
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Thank you kindly Karen, it’s quite a delicious combo of flavours.
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Oh, yeah, this looks like one fabulous soup! I’d have fallen hard for it, too. Bill now will eat shrimp, but cod is iffy. I would love to try my hand at this, though 🙂
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Thank you so much Liz, I think the soup needs fish, the texture and delicate flavour is perfect for it. You may want to try Monkfish as it is slightly denser in texture than the cod for a person who doesn’t love fish.
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Stunning photos Eva! It’s so hard to get good shots of soup, but you captured the elegance and deliciousness of this one. I’ve never tried a soup like this, but it sounds amazing. I can see why you guys return to this recipe. 🙂
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I am so flattered, thank you kindly! We love the flavours and the texture of the fish with the broth; the shrimp dumplings are a bonus!
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Now this is one meal I can really get behind. Like my mother’s recipes it has a lot of ingredients but a lot of them are repeated and they add so much to a recipe! 😀
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Indeed Lorraine, it really doesn’t require a lot of effort either but makes for an impressive dish.
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What an unusual seafood dish! A big beautiful plateful of Chinese and Japanese influences combined in one meal that certainly would impress every single guest (the preparation sounds very impressive too!). (I am wondering if you haven’t forgotten shiso in the ingredients of the broth…)
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Good catch Sissi, I thought so too but the original recipe doesn’t have it either!
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I guess you are not the first one who has modified some ingredients 😉 The “author” must have substituted or skipped shiso leaves too!
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Probably, and I’ve never tried shiso so I am unsure of the flavour profile it would bring.
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Dumplings? I’m in! Can NEVER resist dumplings. This dish is wonderful — layers of flavor. Looks fabulous, too. Thanks!
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Thank you kindly John, it is one very tasty dish.
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This sounds really good, Eva. Surprisingly, I’ve most of the ingredients already. I’ve been on an Asian foods kick of late and didn’t realize how much I’ve in supply until I read this recipe. It wasn’t but a few weeks ago when I would have had very few of the items on hand. Both recipes sound delicious, though I’d be far more likely to prepare the cod and buy the shrimp dumplings — unless I was serving the dish for guests. Well, at least I’d tell my guests that I made them. 🙂
We’ve got some major storms heading our way this evening before temperatures drop over 10˚ for the weekend. I’m fine with it so long as the “s” doesn’t return. Fingers crossed, eh?
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Thank you John, your secret (dumplings) is safe with me! We have a dreary, rainy week here too and I’m with you, as long as “s” isn’t in the forecast, I’m good to go!
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Absolutely delicious!!!!! You can purchase thin wonton wrappers from the Asian food market. Try TNT or Foodie.
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Hi Norma, thank you and thank you for the tip, our local grocery store didn’t have them and TNT is about a 20-minute drive so I opted not to go. The actual recipe was easy and because I used my KitchenAid Pasta maker attachment, it wasn’t tiring either!
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this looks wonderful
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Thank you kindly Rebecca, welcome to my blog.
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Alright, you did me in.
It’s lunchtime over here and I didn’t bring squat so seeing this right now…it’s literally ALL I cant think of.
Whhyyyyyyyyyyy Eva, whyyyyyyyyyy!!
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You’re so cute, thank you! I have had this as leftovers too and it’s very tasty (although I highly reco to remove the dumplings from the broth as they will turn too soggy).
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Very good point!
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Those shrimp dumplings sound and look scrumptious. What’s really impressive is that homemade broth!
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Thank you Angie, it truly was. The broth is quite easy to make and ever so flavourful.
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I’m always amazed at your pictures and presentation which add pizzazz to an already sounding delicious dish.
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Oh my, you have me blushing again, thank you for your generous compliments, Maria.
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