asian Archives - Sugar et al

3 Simple and Quick Weeknight Recipes With Salmon

2|06|2015

Dinners with Salmon are common in my house. Since salmon is quick to cook, healthy and delicious the idea is to add it to dishes that cook faster. Then dinner is always a breeze. I also love the fact that I can pick up a pack from the supermarket that is just ready to cook…no prepping! Since salmon can be cooked in so many ways, flavored with a variety of sauces and marinades and served alongside a diverse range of vegetables, grain or meal, there is no end to the number of recipes one can have. I decided to share a few of my favorite ways of to eat Salmon today.

Sticky Asian Salmon with Soba Noodles Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour and a great option for people on a gluten free diet (make sure you read the label properly). It also cooks very quickly which is the reason I pair it often with salmon. For some heat, you could add chopped red chillies to the marinade.

Sticky Asian Salmon With Soba Noodles And Greens
serves 4

4 skinless salmon fillets
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 tsp olive oil
Asian greens (chopped broccoli, snow peas, green peas, chives), to serve
salt, for seasoning

Mix the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Use 2 tablepoons of the mixture to marinate the salmon. Place a frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil. When heated, pan fry the salmon fillets till cooked to your liking (about 2-3 mins on each side). Remove the fillets and keep aside.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles as per instructions on the back of the pack. Drain well. Rinse. Leave aside.
In the same frying pan, heat the remaining 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the broccoli and stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the remaining greens. Pour the remaining marinade and noodles and mix till combined. Season.
Serve the noodles warm along with the salmon.

Roasted Maple Salmon With Pumpkin, Fennel and Truss Tomatoes : This is a great weeknight dinner option where you whisk up a quick sauce, chop a few vegetables and roast everything together. The oven does most of the work! There is sweetness from the maple syrup and heat from the chillies so you experience a wonderful balance of flavour.

Roasted Maple Salmon With Pumpkin, Fennel And Truss Tomatoes
Serves 4

4 salmon fillets (skinless or with skin), cleaned, prepped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp mixed herbs
salt, to season
10-12 cherry truss tomatoes
2-3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and quartered
1/2 butternut pumpkin, cut into wedges

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C (200 degrees C fan forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the olive oil, maple syrup, crushed garlic, chilli flakes, mixed herbs together in a small bowl.

Place the salmon, pumpkin, fennel and tomatoes on the prepared baking tray. Pour the oil and maple syrup mixture all over. Gently toss to combine. Roast for 15 minutes or till salmon is cooked through.
Remove tray from oven. Move the salmon aside and wrap in foil to keep warm. Roast the vegetables for a further 10 minutes or until soft and lightly browned. Serve warm with noodles, pasta or bread.

Coconut Poached Salmon : This is an old recipe from my archives. One that is made over and over again at home. Salmon fillets are poached in coconut milk along with a few Asian ingredients. I am not going to rewrite the recipe as it remains pretty much the same. The only extra thing I have added here is a pinch of turmeric. The original recipe did not have it. You take your pick…with or without turmeric! It tastes amazing both ways.

Get the recipe here

Prawn and Eggplant Hoisin Stir-Fry

3|10|2014

A quick stir-fry of prawns and eggplant with a delicious chinese hoisin sauce. Delicious with rice or noodles and perfect for busy weeknights.

My sister and me are soul mates. It would still remain an understatement if I said it over and over again, which i think I have, quite a few times in this blog. But we are polar opposites in terms of personality, habits, and preferences. We see things differently but we mostly agree on anything so as not to hurt the feelings of the other. I think that happens when you get to see your loved ones after long periods. When it comes to food, I am the more passionate cook, my sister is the smarter one. In the treasured times that we are together, I think of the most delicious things to cook and feed her. She on the other hand,would return with packets of instant noodles, soups, canned veggies, purees and such if she went grocery shopping. She would scan the entire store and nothing would escape her sharp eyesight if it defines ‘quick’ and ‘smart’ cooking.
‘Cooking is secondary, let’s chat’ she would insist.

In such scenarios when time is limited, great food matters and conversations with your loved ones are dearer, a fabulous stir-fry is the answer. It tastes a lot better and is fresher than the takeaway and is ready in moments. I have realized over the years that Asian sauces make this happen quite easily. They are easier to store as they don’t always need place in the refrigerator.

Hoisin is brilliant as it is quite thick. It coats itself nicely on meat and vegetables. You can throw in whatever vegetables you have at hand. Prawns can be easily replaced with chicken, fish or beef. I always have a pack of frozen, cleaned prawns in my freezer as it cooks the fastest and the prep time is zero. The flavours are authentic and vegetables are crunchy which is the true essence of Asian cooking. You can eat this stir-fry as a starter or serve with steamed Jasmine rice to make a meal.

Prawn and Eggplant Hoisin Stir-Fry (inspired by this recipe from Taste.com)
Serves 3-4

1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 Lebanese eggplants (ant kind of eggplant will do)
1 cup frozen prawns (peeled, deveined and cleaned)
2 garlic cloves. finely sliced
3 cm ginger, finely sliced (or grated if you don’t like pieces of ginger in your mouth)
1 bunch baby bok choy, leaves separated
10-12 snow peas, trimmed
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp palm sugar/brown sugar
salt for seasoning
red chillies, finely chopped, to serve
a handful chopped chives, to serve
a handful fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large frypan over medium-high heat. Add eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Add prawns, garlic and ginger to wok. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until prawns have changed colour. Reduce heat to medium, then add bok choy, snow peas and cook, stirring, for a minute.
Add Hoisin, soya sauce, sugar, and salt and stir fry for 2 minutes or until the bok choy is just wilted and the mixture is coated with sauce. Garnish with red chillies, chopped chives and fresh coriander. Serve with steamed rice.

Fish Cake Salad with Chilli Caramel Dressing

1|07|2014

I absolutely adore Asian fish cakes. I make them often and if you happen to visit me, chances are high that they are the first thing you will be served at my place. My husband is pretty sure it has something to do with the name:-) I can’t deny that (I couldn’t stop smiling when my little one victoriously retorted ‘C is for Cake’ while learning alphabets) but the truth is that the balance of sweet, sour, spicy flavours is what make them so unique. Other than eating them with a lovely dipping sauce, I like to add them to sandwiches, wraps, salads or atop fried rice.

The beauty of this salad is in the fish cakes and the dressing. It sounds like a lot of work for a salad but really it isn’t. The ingredients for the fish cakes are thrown into the food processor, mixed together, shaped into cakes and fried. The chilli caramel dressing is also easy to make by heating the ingredients together in a saucepan till they thicken up in to a sticky caramel. You can go with any vegetable and herbs that you have at hand.

The best way to enjoy the salad is assembling it when the fish cakes are warm. You can of course make them ahead and warm them up just before serving. The sticky caramel coats the cakes and turns into the most amazing dressing that is so typical of Asian flavours. These fish cakes can also be served on their own with the salad on the side. If doing so, the cakes can be made larger in size. I have made them smaller for the purpose of adding them to salad.

Fish Cake Salad with Chilli Caramel Dressing
Serves 4

500 g firm white fish fillets
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 red chilli (optional)
1/2 cup coriander leaves
a handful, chives
1 tsp ground turmeric (optional)
1 tbsp. fish sauce
salt, to taste
1 egg
shaved baby cucumber, to serve
2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
fresh herbs (coriander, basil, chives), to serve

Chilli Caramel Dressing( makes about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1tbsp fish sauce
juice from 1 lime

For the fish cakes: Place fish, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, chives, turmeric, fish sauce and egg in a food processor. Process until well combined. Place in a bowl and season with salt.
Using 2 tablespoons of mixture at a time, shape mixture into small patties.

Fill a wok with oil till 1/3 full. Heat over medium heat until hot. Cook fish cakes, in batches, turning, for 5 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

To make the dressing: combine sugar, vinegar, garlic, chilli and 1 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8 minutes or until thickened and reduced. Remove from heat, then stir in fish sauce and lime juice. Loosely cover and leave to cool.

To assemble, slice the fish cakes in half and place on a plate (or bowl). Add the vegetables and herbs and gently toss to combine. Add dressing just before serving. Combine.

Spicy Asian Eggplant Curry

16|02|2014

Eggplant curry which is spicy, sweet, sour at the same time. Great accompaniment with rice or breads and totally delicious.

On days when I go meat-less, one of my favourite things to cook are eggplants. Not only am I a big fan of the dark shiny purple skin and the soft mushy interior when cooked, I also love the ease with which eggplants take on flavours. Whether it is a Moussaka, a salad or my favourite way of roasting it on an open fire for an Indian Bhartha, this is an ingredient that seldom fails to bring out the creativity in me.

Having eaten and cooked with eggplants all my life, it wasn’t difficult for me to pair them up with Asian ingredients. Especially a curry. That way the eggplants become the star of the show and can effortlessly replace the non-vegetarian component of a meal. Sweet, sour, spicy, hot are the typical flavours that come to one’s mind when thinking about an Asian curry. This one has all of them. Feel free to play around with the quantities of each ingredient as per taste.

I have used Lebanese eggplants in this eggplant curry that are thinner and smaller than regular eggplants but very similar in taste with the large round ones. The larger ones can be used too but they would need to be sliced up into long thin pieces.

Spicy Asian Eggplant Curry
Serves 4

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthways
5 cm piece ginger roughly chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, outer skin removed (white part only)
1 tbsp. lime zest
4-5 red chillies (or as per taste)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
7-8 small Lebanese eggplants, trimmed, halved or quartered lengthways
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely diced tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup water
11/2 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar
Salt, to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Finely chopped red chillies for garnish (optional)

Place the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime zest in the bowl of a food processor and process to a smooth paste.

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large wok over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook, covered, for 2 minutes. Turn the eggplant and cook, covered, for a further 3 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.

Heat the remaining oil in the wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and fry for 2-3 minutes or until it softens. Add the spice paste and stir-fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the tomatoes and water and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Taste and season with palm sugar and salt.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the eggplant to the tomato mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until heated through. Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately with rice.