Spiced Salmon/Savoury Rice

The day before Good Friday, and the last day of work this week. :-) What a busy week it has been! The weather has got slightly better, and we have seen a few glimmers of sunshine, but how cold it is! Looks like a cold Easter weekend too. Be nice to stay in the warm baking nice things for the week ahead ;-)

Tonight I choose a meal that had a regular spot on the menus last year, and I have cooked a couple of time this year already - Spiced Salmon and Savoury Basmati Rice. This recipe has been adapted from 'Nigella Express' by Nigella Lawson and is one my family have always enjoyed. I use salmon fillets and a variety of vegetables in my rice. Tonight I used chopped spring onions (about 6), a handful of halved baby button mushrooms and 10 baby corn, sliced, but thickly. I also used my Moroccan spices today, and a sprinkle of cumin seeds to start the cooking off. Once the seeds start to fry and release their scent, I pop in the vegetables and after 2 mins, add the spices to fry too. All the lovely flavours and smells begin to sneak out of the pan as well as into the vegetables.

Here are my other diary entries which, although similar, will go into more detail:

Saturday 5th January 2013

   Spiced salmon with vegetable spiced rice:

Fry spring onions, mushrooms and sliced baby corn with oil and 1 tsp each of cumin and garam masala, until soft. Add basmati rice (I used white for quickness, but normally use brown for health), stirring to coat with spices and oil, then cover with boiling water by 1cm. put lid on saucepan, turn down and cook for 7-8 mins or until the water has gone, then turn heat off, cover with a tea towel and clamp lid over that (a tip I’m sure I picked up from Nigella many years ago). Leave until ready to serve.

De-skin the salmon fillets. Wash, dry, and then ‘roll’ in a mixture of 2tsp garam masala, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp cumin and ½ tsp salt. Heat 1tblsp oil in a frying pan and place fillets in hot pan, straight after rolling. Fry for 3-4 mins before turning. Turn again after 5-6 mins. Cook to taste. Serve on top of rice, drizzled with oil from pan and extra olive oil if necessary.

Tuesday 19^th February

Spiced salmon with savoury basmati rice.

My savoury rice can take many forms, generally depending on what I have in the fridge. Today, a small shopping trip brought me some chestnut mushrooms and baby corn. I thought I had spring onions, but didn’t, so a normal white onion will do.

Fry the chopped onion in oil until soft.

Add 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp cumin seeds and ½ tsp turmeric. Fry for 2 mins before adding sliced mushrooms. 

Cook these until soft, then pop in the thickly sliced corn and a handful of peas. Stir to mix, and then add rice for the number of people eating. 

Stir the rice into the spices and vegetables, cooking for 1-2 mins before adding enough boiling water to cover the rice by about 1 cm. 

Bring to the boil again, then simmer for 7 mins. I use white basmati for most of my rice dishes, so this needs very little cooking time. This time was told to me a long time ago and I have stuck to it since.

Once the water has disappeared, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a teatowel and clamp on the lid. Thanks Nigella – a trick that works a treat!

Meanwhile skin the salmon fillets, wash and dry. 

On a clean plate sprinkle 2 tsp garam masala, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp sugar and half tsp salt. Mix these together, then roll the salmon in the mixture. 

Plonk straight into a hot pan and fry, turning regularly to seal the spices onto the fish, until cooked to own preference.

Serve rice into warmed bowls and top with salmon and a drizzle of olive oil.

As I mentioned, white Basmati is great for quick dishes, but if you have a littler longer, brown adds a little something extra, and would be my choice for this dish. Brown basmati will take 25 mins to cook properly, so factor that in when you choose.

In preparation for Easter, I made a new batch of hot cross buns tonight - it is traditional to have them on Good Friday, complete with cross. I used the same recipe from Sunday, but this time left out the melted butter. The dough seemed lighter, and after cooking I will be able to report back on the difference between the two batches I have made. Am looking forward to warmed hot cross buns for breakfast though...