Oriental Salmon

If you are tired making your favorite salmon recipe over and over again, this simple oriental style, garlic and sesame oil infused salmon may bring some diversity into your salmon cooking routine.

Blog's Category: International

Oriental Salmon

Intro

I've got my new favorite cooking site fine dining lovers and this recipe is from there. I love-love-love this site for super simple although sophisticated recipes which totally in agreement with my inner cooking rules. Also the site is loaded with all-around-the-food news and tales that are so much fun to browse through - so check it out!

Some simple but effective technique is demoed here such getting pretty strings of wilted scallions or garlic infused sesame oil which can be handy for a lot of other things besides salmon.


What is it?

It's simply lemon or lime drizzled salmon, steamed and then served topped with garlic fried in sesame oil and julienned green onion.

Taste Description

Distinct sesame oil flavor tempered down with a garlic, gives the tender and juicy steamed salmon bright taste and crunchy texture. Thinly sliced strips of green onion add a lot of freshness and, along with sesame flavor, oriental vibe to the dish. Acidity of the lemon breaks up beautiful but flat taste of other ingredients and all together creates multi-layered complex deliciousness.

How to Serve

This dish born to be served with freshly cooked jasmine rice - that's what I did. But it can be easily served with any other side such as pasta, roasted potato or other vegetables - why not? Due to a lot of flavor of its own, this salmon does not require any supplemental sauce but some kind of pickles on a side would not hurt definitely.

Oriental Salmon

• 5 portion-size filets of salmon, skinless and boneless
• 5 tbs sesame oil
• juice from 1-2 limes
• 8-10 garlic cloves, sliced
• salt to taste
• 3 green onions, cut in 3" pieces and then each piece sliced in thin strips with end of knife

- In a steamer or on a large skillet, place your salmon, salt it and drizzle very generously with a lime juice. Steam it for about 10 minutes. If using skillet, splash a 1/2 cup of water, cover tightly with lid and skillet-steam on a very low heat for 10 minutes, no more.

- Meanwhile, heat a sesame oil on a separate skillet and, on a medium low heat fry sliced garlic in it until garlic become nice golden and somewhat crispy. Take off the heat and right away add julienned green onion. Stir once or twice until onion wilts a bit and lose its initial bitterness.

- Top salmon pieces generously with mix of fried garlic, sesame oil and onion and serve. Enjoy!


Some Notes

- I was concerned with a relatively large amount of sesame oil in a recipe but realized later that strong sesame flavor softens a lot with garlic, fried in it.

- Green onion has pretty assertive taste when raw. In this recipe, it ingeniously gets wilted on a still hot skillet and acquires great soft delicious softly-oniony taste.

- Don't skip on slicing your onion into thin strips - you'll thank me later :)

- If you are not paranoid about butter, a little piece of butter thrown on a top of each piece of salmon along with sesame oil topping would bring whole lot of additional taste and flavor to already beautiful dish.

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IN PICTURES

This was an inexpensive frozen wild salmon I bought on sale. I just can imagine if it would be the fresh one!

 

My garlic is sprouting.. that's all right - it was tasty anyway. Also I guess it should possess more nutrients when it's sprouting, right?

Thinner you split your scallion - better. I was a bit lazy :)

 

 

You can't beat the taste of fried (not over-fried!) garlic - crunchy, flavorful - real jewels on a plate.

On a still hot skillet, onion wilts quickly, becomes supple, softer in taste and texture.

 

Do not over-cook salmon. 10 minutes should be more than enough to steam.

Delicious!!!