20 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
If you like salmon, you’ll love this quick and easy recipe – think flaky, juicy flesh kissed with gentle spice and the crispiest skin ever, buddied up with my fail-safe, fluffy coconut rice and refreshing cucumber pickle. Get in!
Ingredients
olive oil
1 x 500g skin-on piece salmon, pin-boned and scaled, from sustainable sources
1 heaped teaspoon Patak’s korma spice paste
optional: 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
COCONUT RICE
1 mug of basmati rice (approx. 300g)
45g coconut cream
1 fresh red chilli
1 lemon
CUCUMBER PICKLE
1 cucumber
white wine vinegar
½ a bunch of fresh coriander (15g)
Method
- Fill an ordinary builder’s mug with rice, tip into a pan, then add 2 mugs of boiling water, a pinch of sea salt and the coconut cream. Cut the chilli in half lengthways and add to the pan, then halve the lemon, dropping one half in the pan and reserving the other half for the fish. Cover with a lid and cook on a high heat for 12 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and fluffed up beautifully.
- For the cucumber pickle, use a fork to score the cucumber skin lengthways, then slice into rounds and place into a bowl with a generous pinch of salt. Drizzle over a little vinegar, add a few sprigs of coriander, then scrunch it all up with your hands and leave to steep.
- Put a non-stick pan on a medium-high heat. Add a little oil, then place the fish, skin-side down, pressing down with your fingers for 10 seconds to flatten the skin.
- Dollop the korma spice paste onto a plate, add a squeeze of lemon juice and give it a stir. Using the rosemary like a brush (or use a pastry brush), dip it in the paste, swirl it around, then paint it generously over the salmon flesh. Continue cooking for 5 minutes to help the skin crisp up, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, then flip the salmon over and cook for 1 minute more. Turn off the heat and leave in the pan for 5 minutes – the residual heat will continue cooking the fish.
- Remove the chilli and lemon from the rice pan and tip the rice into a bowl. Finely slice the chilli and a little of the lemon zest, then scatter it over the rice.
- Place the salmon on a board, then roughly chop and scatter over the remaining coriander. Flake the fish with two forks and serve with the rice and cucumber pickle.
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