Crispy soy salmon with quick pickles

Name: Crispy soy salmon with quick pickles
Total time: 45 min
Yield: serves 2
Ingredients: jasmine rice 120g; salmon 2 x 200g fillets; vegetable oil 2 tsp; butter 25g; garlic 2 cloves, crushed; ginger a thumb-sized piece, finely grated; mirin 3 tbsp; soy sauce 2 tbsp; caster sugar ½ tbsp; rice vinegar 75g; caster sugar 25g; cucumber ¼, halved and thinly sliced; radishes a handful, thinly sliced; red chilli 1, deseeded, halved and thinly sliced

45 minutes + pickling
serves 2
Easy

A juicy, perfectly cooked fillet of fish with crisp skin that crackles when cut is a thing of beauty – but one that can be tough to achieve. Follow these simple steps, whatever fish you're cooking, and you'll get it right, every time

March 8, 2019 at 12:22 pm

Ingredients

jasmine rice 120g
salmon 2 x 200g fillets
vegetable oil 2 tsp
butter 25g
garlic 2 cloves, crushed
ginger a thumb-sized piece, finely grated
mirin 3 tbsp
soy sauce 2 tbsp
caster sugar ½ tbsp

QUICK PICKLES

rice vinegar 75g
caster sugar 25g
cucumber ¼, halved and thinly sliced
radishes a handful, thinly sliced
red chilli 1, deseeded, halved and thinly sliced

Method

Step 1

To make the quick pickles, put the vinegar, sugar, 50ml of water and a pinch of salt into a small pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Put the cucumber slices, radishes and chilli into a bowl, pour over the hot pickling liquid and leave until completely cool, turning every now and again.
Step 2

Put the rice into a small pan with 240ml of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, put on a lid and simmer gently for 10 minutes, then leave to steam for a further 10 minutes, or until ready to serve, then fluff up with a fork.
Step 3

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat and pat the salmon fillets dry with kitchen paper. Drizzle the fillets all over with the oil, then season with salt.
Step 4

Put the salmon into the pan, skin-side down, and carefully press so the skin remains flat and in contact with the pan. Cook for 3 minutes, without moving the fillets. Flip (the fillets should have released themselves from the pan), add the butter and cook for 1 minute, basting with the butter, then move onto a plate, skin-side up, to rest. The fish should feel firm but have a little give when pressed.
Step 5

Add the garlic and ginger to the pan, and stir for 1 minute before adding the mirin, soy and sugar. Bubble for a few minutes until reduced and a little syrupy.
Step 6

Spoon the rice onto 2 plates, with a pile of drained pickles, the crispy salmon fillet, skin-side up, and a drizzle of the sauce.