I knew exactly how I wanted this dish to taste.  Fresh and light but with a dressing that packed a punch.  A punch it did.  Gorgeous pan seared salmon on fragrant rice with a dressing that took just minutes to make this dish was so easy and had every element that great Asian food delivers.  Hot, sour, sweet, salty, crunch.  Perfection on a plate…..

Prep time:  25 Minutes              

Cooking time:  20  Minutes            

$$  Medium Budget

Serves 4

Peanut oil for frying (vegetable will also do)

4 x 200gm salmon fillets, skinned and boned

1 cup of jasmine rice

11/2 cups of water

A sprinkle of sea salt

1 tsp of grated ginger

2 spring onions, the white part finely sliced (up to abut the half way point) green part reserved for garnish

1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped

1 long red chilli, roughly chopped (remove the seeds if preferred but a little heat really makes the dish)

1.5 cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped

4 sprigs of coriander, roughly chopped

2 sprigs of mint, leaves removed & stalks discarded

4 Kaffir lime leaves, rolled together and roughly sliced

Juice of 2 limes

2 tbs of fish sauce

2 tbs of rice wine vinegar

11/2 tbs of caster sugar

1/2 a cup of granulated peanuts, toasted in a dry pan until golden

Steamed baby bok choy to serve

Place the garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, lime leaves & mint in a small processor or blender and blitz until you have a dry pesto like consistency.

Place the fish sauce, lime juice, rice wine vinegar and caster sugar in a small bowl.  Whisk until the sugar dissolves.  Add the asian aromatics from the processor and stir to combine.  Have a little taste and adjust any seasoning to your liking.  It should be hot, salty, sweet & sour.  Set aside.

Slice the leftover green part of the spring onions very finely from top to bottom and place in a bowl of iced water.  They will go curly and make a lovely garnish.

Place the rice, water and ginger in a saucepan and add a good pinch of sea salt.  Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally and once boiling reduce heat to a simmer and place a lid on.  Simmer for 12 minutes and then remove from the heat.  Quickly remove the lid and pop in the sliced spring onions, place the lid back on and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  The spring onions will wilt and be just cooked so you won’t have that raw onion flavour.

For perfect crispy seared salmon, dry the skin with paper towel, put it on a plate and place in the fridge, uncovered for 30 minutes.  Heat a griddle or fry pan to nice and hot.  Drizzle a little peanut oil over the salmon fillets and massage the oil into the fish and season with a little salt.  Cook on a high heat for approximately 4 minutes on each side until golden for medium.  Just leave the fish in the pan longer if you like it well done.

Stir the spring onions through the rice with a fork and fluff the rice.  Divide the rice between four serving plates, placing the rice on one side of the plate.  Lay the steamed Baby Bok Choy along side the rice and then place a piece of seared salmon on each plate diagonally over the rice and greens.  Spoon over the dressing and sprinkle over the roasted peanuts.  Drain the green onions and place a lovely little pile on top and serve…….