This dish is similar to yesterday’s post but I made it for dinner tonight and it was so good I had to write it down immediately. Salmon is such a delicious fish and has all the nutritional benefit you could ever wish for. Paired with carrot, pepper and broccoli stir fried in miso and ginger – with all their combined goodness – and sticky (i.e. poorly cooked) Thai Jasmine rice, you’ve got yourself a winner. The five spice is added to the salmon and its skin, giving the whole thing another level of flavour. The veg are infused with lemon grass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chilli.

Serves two.

Ingredients

• 2 fillets of salmon, boneless and skin on
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 carrots, sliced into thin strips
• 1 red or yellow pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 clove garlic
• 2cm piece of ginger, grated or chopped into little bits
• 5cm piece of lemon grass, cut in half
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• as much chilli as you like
• 1 tsp miso
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp five spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 florets of frozen broccoli
• 2-3 cups Thai Jasmine rice
• 2 spring onions
• bunch of fresh coriander

Method

First, get the rice on. If you soak it for as long as possible in cold water before cooking it, it will take less time to cook as this removes some of the starch. Follow the instructions on the packet for how and how long to cook your rice as the timing can vary.

Leave the rice to cook for around 5 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.

Drizzle the sesame oil into a medium frying pan and add the carrot sticks, peppers, garlic, chilli, ginger, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. Stir fry for a few minutes.

Next, add the miso and soy sauce. Turn the heat down to low. Throw in the broccoli and cover the pan with a lid to let it steam for a few minutes.

Remove the lid and add a splash of water to the pan if it’s started drying up, but make sure the water has all but boiled away when you add the salmon. This will ensure the skin gets crisp.

Check the rice.

To prep the salmon, rub the five spice, salt and a pinch of pepper into each side of the fish. Turn the heat up a couple of notches in the frying pan and add the salmon skin-down onto the surface of the pan (ie. move the veg out of the way). Cover the fish with some of the veg to let it infuse those lovely flavours you’ve created.

After about 3 minutes (depends on the size of the fish), turn the salmon pieces over and cook for a further 2-4 minutes, depending on how thick the slice is.

Turn the heat off the pan and taste the rice to check it’s cooked. Chop the spring onions and coriander into little pieces.

Pile the rice, veg and salmon onto a plate and sprinkle with the spring onions and coriander. Voila!