Inspiration for this dish came from one of my Facebook followers (you know who you are) who had a similar dish at a restaurant (I think) and asked me to come up with it.  I am fairly certain the dish she had was a poached salmon fillet but I like the idea of that super crunchy salmon skin as a contrast to the softness of the other ingredients.  Slippery noodles, tender mushrooms and Asian greens immersed in a fragrant broth topped with a juicy salmon fillet…….it doesn’t get much better than that.

Prep time:  30  Minutes              Cooking time:  30  Minutes               $$  Medium Budget

Serves 4

4 x 150gm Salmon Fillets (skin on)

1 litre of vegetable stock

1 litre of water

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of shaoxing wine (chinese rice wine)

1 tbs of rice wine vinegar

1 tbs of mirin seasoning

3cm piece of ginger, roughly sliced

3 garlic cloves, bruised

1 stalk of lemon grass, bruised with the back of your knife

1 chilli, sliced down the centre leaving the end intact

3 spring onions, halved

3 coriander roots and stems (washed thoroughly)

3 star anise

1 punnet of asian mushrooms (I used enoki and shimeji but shitaki would also be good)

1 bunch of gai larn, ends removed and slice into 3cm batons

4 x portions of rice vermicelli noodles

2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal (place in iced water to crisp and curl)

1 cup of coriander leaves

2 tsp of sesame oil

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Place the stock, water, ginger, chilli, garlic, lemon grass, star anise, spring onions, coriander stems & roots, soy sauce, shoaxing wine, rice wine vinegar and miring in a large stock pot and stir to combine.   Bring to a simmer and allow the broth to simmer for approximately 30 minutes until aromatic.  Use a slotted spoon or strainer to remove the aromatics so that you have a nice clear broth.

Place the vermicelli in a bowl and cover with cold water.  Allow to soak for 8 minutes or until just tender.  They will cook further in the broth.  Drain, run under hot water and divide among four serving bowls.

Break up the mushrooms roughly with your fingers and divide among the bowls.  They will also cook in the broth.

Heat a frypan to smoking hot and rub a little oil into the skin of the salmon.  Season generously with salt and pepper and place the fillets in the pan, skin side down for 4-5 minutes or until the skin is nice and crispy.  Flip and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes if you like your salmon medium or for longer if you like it cooked through.

Bring the broth up to a decent boil again and pop the greens in.  They will wilt instantly, cook for 1 minute and then remove with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowls on top of the noodles.

Carefully transfer each salmon portion to the bowls, skin side up and then ladle over the hot broth.  Top the salmon with the spring onion and coriander leaves and drizzle over a little sesame oil.  Serve immediately.